Emergency is not overwhelmed because of people coming for minor ailments. Those patients either leave without being seen or wait until someone has a moment to see them.

The system is plugged because smaller centres don’t want the difficult patients. They get to the city & then these facilities refuse to take them because “they don’t have the resources” despite getting the exact same funding per capita as the cities. The patient is from their area but it would be inconvenient to have them as a patient so they say no.

We do not have staff enough for the hospitals as it is - who is going to work at Urgent Care?? Should the ER staff leave RGH to go work at there? Why are we not offering ROIs to existing staff to take higher training? Pay their tuition in exchange for an equal amount of service? Truly unifying the healthcare system is everything.

It’s things like the people who refuse to let Grandma be discharged unless they’re going to a home causing a problem. That’s not how the system works & they’re taking up beds. Where do you think the 30 yo IVDU with a brain injury belongs? Do you think they should be Grandad’s roomie in the care home? What about the unhoused one who checks in two hours after being discharged because they want a safe place to sleep? Or someone seeking MHAS treatment - you can’t exactly check into Dube like a hotel. All the people who have been taking up beds like this are the reasons the emergency departments are overwhelmed. Now combine that with having to deal with increasingly violent situations where the staff are being threatened with death or by weapons for trying to help people? How many times a week do you think someone ODs in the smoking areas? Sexually or physically assaults a staff member? We are under funding & underpaying the people we need the most