A new letter from the association representing doctors at Surrey Memorial Hospital has called on health-care leaders to either fill vacant positions in the emergency room or shut down the department to new patients.
The cutting letter from the Medical Staff Association at SMH said an ongoing shortage of hospitalists, or house doctors, has made it “increasingly difficult, if not impossible,” for doctors to give patients the level of care they need.
“Your continued silence and inaction on this issue is placing the health and well-being of Surrey residents in jeopardy,” read the letter, addressed to Fraser Health CEO Dr. Victoria Lee, Health Minister Adrian Dix and other leaders.
“We implore you to take immediate action to bolster the availability of hospitalists physicians to the ED at SMH, and if you cannot do this, the only responsible recourse is to place the Surrey Memorial Hospital ER on diversion.”
The letter was sent May 19 and obtained by CBC News on Tuesday. The association said it has not received a response from Lee or Dix.
“It’s disheartening and it’s disappointing. One of the things that we want is at least an acknowledgement of what is happening,” said association president Dr. Roopjeet Kahlon.
Hospitals are put on diversion when they are too overwhelmed to safely accommodate new patients. On diversion, emergency departments do not accept incoming patients until it recovers to a more manageable patient load.
“Unless you can immediately bolster the physician availability in that emergency department to see the volume coming in, it doesn’t make sense to continue to keep the doors open and say, ‘You can come, and you will be given the highest quality of care,’ and then expect the physicians on the ground to figure out how to make that happen,” Kahlon said in an interview with CBC’s On The Coast.
“If you can’t immediately address at least the basics, the only responsible thing to do is to put the hospital ER on diversion.”
ER diversion not necessary, minister says
In an interview on Tuesday, Dix said the province has an “offer on the table” to settle stalled contract negotiations with potential hospitalists for SMH and other hospitals.
The minister said hospital demand has been high in the region since January when daily patient numbers reached record heights during flu season.
“There is absolutely no question that Fraser Health hospitals are doing more emergency room visits, more surgeries, more diagnostic care than at any time in the past, and this is very challenging after three years of pandemic,” said Dix.
“So when people raise issues, you bet we respond, and we listen to what they say.”
The minister said he does not have plans to put Surrey’s ER on diversion.
“I don’t think that’s required,” he said.
Dangerous log jam happening in ER, doctors say
In their own letters this month, doctors running Surrey’s emergency room explained why the lack of house doctors has pushed their units past the breaking point.
ER doctors are only meant to diagnose and stabilize patients so they can be admitted to the appropriate ward for comprehensive treatment. Without enough hospitalists admitting patients to the next ward, patients end up stranded in the ER for as long as three days.
WATCH | Senior physician at Surrey hospital speaks about conditions that are leaving staff ‘worried sick’:
Dr. Claudine Storness-Bliss, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Surrey Memorial Hospital, said critically inadequate resources are compromising patient safety within the hospital’s family birthing unit.
It’s left to emergency physicians to care for those lingering patients, as new ones keep coming in the door, leading to what doctors described as a dangerous traffic jam.
“It should come as no surprise then to anyone paying attention that patient care is being compromised, patients are deteriorating, and the number of preventable deaths is rising in our overcrowded and understaffed ER,” the association’s letter read.
Earlier Tuesday, leading doctors from SMH met with politicians and other community stakeholders at city hall in hopes of finding solutions to the resourcing “crisis.”
The Surrey Hospitals Foundation said the meeting was closed to the public, but community leaders spoke outside city hall before it started.
“The letter that we saw yesterday was absolutely beyond gut-wrenching. It was tragic, and it shows how far we have fallen in health-care in Surrey,” said Trevor Halford, the MLA for Surrey-White Rock.
“To say that I’m concerned would be a complete understatement,” added Surrey South MLA Elenore Sturko. “I am very concerned for the well-being of our health-care providers and the well-being of our community.”
Another letter from nearly 40 doctors in obstetrics and gynecology at SMH said resourcing problems have led to “countless near misses” with patient safety and the death of a newborn in 2021.
WATCH | Obstetrician describes ‘scary’ crisis at Surrey Memorial Hospital’s birthing unit:
Dr. Urbain Ip, a leading emergency room physician at Surrey Memorial Hospital, said conditions in the department have broken down to the point where patients can be stranded in hallways for days at a time.
The physicians also said B.C. Women’s Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver receive more department funding, despite seeing fewer OBGYN patients than SMH.
“Surrey’s [population] growth has been tremendous, there’s no doubt about that, but when we look at where dollars are spent by the provincial and federal governments, it’s north of the Fraser [River] every single time,” Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said outside city hall on Tuesday.
Former mayor Dianne Watts said local health care saw “significant” investments during her tenure but echoed Locke in saying funding has not kept pace with population growth.
The city’s population grew by more than nine per cent between 2016 and 2021, reaching 560,000 people.