'On the brink of collapse': Doctors warn Edmonton-area hospitals are at capacity

Front-line healthcare workers are worried about the upcoming respiratory virus season as hospitals in the Edmonton region are already at capacity.

Due to the lack of space at hospitals, they have to turn away patients from other zones that would normally be accepted, according to Dr. Neeja Bakshi.

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"It's not inconceivable that patients may have to travel all the way from the northern part of the province or the southern part of the province if that's where a space is, which is not ideal for a patient, for families, for providers," Bakshi said. "How long is it sustainable for?

Emergency rooms are also "barely" functioning, according to Dr. Steve Fisher

"It's fair to say that our system is on the brink of collapse. Has been for a while," Fisher said.

Family medicine wards in the Edmonton Zone are operating at 155 per cent capacity and general internal medicine is operating at 135 per cent capacity, according to the Alberta Medical Association (AMA).

"We will bring in patients who absolutely have to come, particularly if they need specialized surgery or if they're a transplant patient," said AMA President Dr. Shelley Duggan.

These numbers, before flu season peaks, worry doctors.

"People are going to get sick and people are going to die," Fisher said. "It's only a matter of time."

Doctors are also worried about the quality of care patients are receiving, having to give diagnoses in waiting rooms.

"The fact that I'm having to give cancer diagnoses to patients in the hallway without any kind of privacy, I think they (the government) need to see the state of what is actually happening, and not just kind of what numbers show," Bakshi said.

"We know that our patients are not going to get the care that they need in the infrastructure and the system that we are in right now, there needs to be radical change," Bakshi said.

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said she has been in contact with Alberta Health Services (AHS) and surge beds will be opened.

"They're looking at reinforcing the workforce as well to make sure that we have the right complement of doctors, nurses, as we open those beds," LaGrange said.

"I'm curious to know where the minister thinks these staff and these physical bed spaces are going to come from," Fisher said.

"If they haven't materialized already, where are they, all of a sudden, now going to appear from?"

Provincial vaccination campaign

Getting vaccinated is the "most important" method of lowering the number of flu and COVID-19 cases in the coming months, according to Fisher.

"If we have a highly vaccinated population, then the burden of disease will be less and there will be less need for acute care space," he added.

• Doctors fear Alberta bill of rights changes may discourage vaccination uptake

Duggan said the province needs to provide strong messaging to Albertans about the importance of vaccines.

"I used to almost never see unvaccinated children in the emergency, now it's a daily effort," Fisher said. "People get their hackles up when you even mention the word 'vaccination.' It's become a cultural change and it's sad, it's scary."

According to the government, "the annual AHS seasonal immunization campaign is underway, now through until the end of January, with advertising booked online, in newsprint and on TV, on billboards around major traffic routes, and on radio."