Island Health working to improve health care

Re: “A new ER reality — a drop in standards of care,” commentary, June 3.

As noted in the commentary, the health system is especially busy and we’re seeing more patients requiring emergency care and more people needing hospital admission.

Emergency department physicians and staff are supporting these higher volumes while we work with hospitalists (physicians who provide care to most hospital-admitted patients) on workload, recruitment and retention concerns.

Significant additional work is underway to address some of these current challenges related to high patient volumes.

We are taking action to reduce hospital pressure in Nanaimo by increasing staffing to expedite patient discharges to community settings.

We are also working with hospitals and teams in other communities to transfer patients back home as soon as safely possible. We also increased emergency department physician staffing in Nanaimo to support increased patient volumes.

As a physician who provides emergency care, I see the impact higher patient volumes have on physicians and their colleagues in the emergency department, and in other hospital departments which are also providing increased support.

I also acknowledge the Nanaimo hospitalists who are working with us to improve patient care. I greatly appreciate everyone’s continued commitment to providing the best possible care to patients during this challenging time.

Island Health remains committed to working with our care teams, and our provincial colleagues, in Nanaimo and across all of our communities on short- and longer-term initiatives to increase the number of care-providers, invest in expanding our hospital infrastructure, and provide more community-based services to reduce the pressure on our hospitals.

Dr. Ben Williams, MD, CCFP Vice-president Medicine, Quality, Research and Chief Medical Officer Island Health