Doctor sounds the alarm on the state of Nova Scotia's emergency rooms

N.S. ER doctor says 'things are bad' in region An emergency room doctor in N.S. says hospitals are way over capacity and burnout is as bad as it was at the height of the pandemic.

Doctor Scott Bowen oversees internal medicine and the ICU at the Cumberland Regional Hospital in Amherst, N.S. He is sounding the alarm on the state of Nova Scotia’s emergency rooms.

“Things are bad. The hospital’s overcrowded, way over capacity,” Bowen said. “On holiday Monday we hit 100, over 140 per cent occupancy.”

Bowen said burnout among nurses is as bad as it was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said they are afraid that they won’t be able to give the quality of care that patients need.

“There are those that haven’t, are afraid to come back to work,” Bowen said. “It’s incredibly difficult to witness.”

In a statement, Nova Scotia Health said it has worked incredibly hard over the past several months to tackle overcrowding and staffing challenges at Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre. The statement said changes will take time and they will continue to use travel nurses and agency staff as needed.

“We know this isn’t a permanent solution, but one that is currently necessary while we work on reaching our goal of bolstering our complement of permanent staff,” the statement said.

Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin is the MLA for Cumberland North and a former nurse herself. She thinks travel nurses should be reinstated to help with overcrowding.

"I was really shocked when I found out that our hospital is one of the only hospitals in the province that the nurses hired by travel agencies have been removed,” Smith-McCrossin said. “It's one thing to be overcapacity 140 per cent, but to be overcapacity and not have enough nurses for safe patient-to-nurse ratio… I'll be honest, it's unethical.”

Nova Scotia Health says there are 20 travel nurse contracts in place at the hospital.

“In addition, we have 10 more in the process of being renewed and a further three that are in the hiring phase,” said Brendan Elliott, with Nova Scotia Health, in a statement to CTV News.

“Nova Scotia Health is constantly making adjustments to the travel nurse contracts in place at the hospital to ensure we have adequate staffing levels. Our overall provincial focus is to reduce the number of travel nurses in our hospitals but not at the expense of patient safety or care. We will continue to use travel nurses in the hospital when it is operationally necessary.”

Maria Foster has been a patient several times at Cumberland Regional over the past year.

“I was in the hospital for the last week on and off and there was only one or two nurses and the doctors were staying past their shifts,” Foster said.

Bowen said the problem is being felt in other parts of the province too.

Susan Braun said she waited six days in a hallway at the Dartmouth General Hospital in Dartmouth, N.S.

“You don’t have toilet facilities. You don’t have the ability to shower. You aren't given the proper care period,” Braun said.

Smith-McCrossin said health professionals are afraid to speak out.

“It's a terrible workplace culture,” Smith-McCrossin said. “People should be, we should be looking to find ways to empower and help and support our nurses and doctors, not muzzling them at the time that they need the most help.”

In their statement, Nova Scotia Health said they are engaged in recruitment initiatives and their overall turnover rate remains at less than one per cent per month, with an annual retention rate of 97 per cent.

Bowen’s immediate message to other health-care professionals in the province included a desperate plea.

“Those that haven't resigned or left, please stick with it, because we need you.”

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.