The head of a national group of emergency room doctors says he's ``disgusted'' that provinces and territories have generally not planned for expected overcrowding in E-Rs, especially as respiratory season starts to peak in many areas.
Doctor Micheal Howlett, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, says governments have failed to heed the warnings of health professionals calling for more staff and quicker placement of patients in long-term care homes to free up beds on wards.
Howlett, who works in rural and urban E-Rs for Lakeridge Health based in Oshawa, Ontario, says many emergency doctors are in leadership roles but hospital administrators often ignore their expertise, putting patients at risk.
He made the comments today as British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix said 10,435 patients -- a record number -- were in hospital Tuesday night, many of them with a respiratory illness.
Dix says the province faces a challenging situation as influenza numbers spike, even as health workers are also calling in sick, putting extra strain on the health-care system.
Respiratory illnesses are also hitting Quebec, where Health Minister Christian Dube says about 19-hundred people a day were visiting E-Rs, double the number compared to last year.