Niharika Sreekumar's husband Prashanth Sreekumar was one of three people who died in the Grey Nuns ED on Dec. 22.Kelsey McMillan/The Globe and Mail
The Alberta government says it is ordering a fatality inquiry into the death of a man who died after spending eight hours in an Edmonton emergency room.
Matt Jones, Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, said Thursday a provincial judge will clarify the circumstances surrounding the death of Prashant Sreekumar, a 44-year-old father of three who died on Dec. 22 at Grey Nuns Community Hospital. The judge will issue findings publicly and could provide recommendations.
Mr. Jones said he had “concerns and unanswered questions” about Mr. Sreekumar’s death after reviewing probes conducted by Acute Care Alberta and Covenant Health, the publicly funded Catholic operator of Grey Nuns. He declined to provide specifics.
“While system-level improvements are under way, a detailed, independent and public review of how the specific case was managed also needs to be undertaken. We owe that to his family and to all Albertans,” he said.
Prashanth and Niharika Sreekumar with their three children.HO/The Canadian Press
Mr. Jones, who was flanked by other provincial health officials at a press conference in Edmonton, also announced the creation of a triage liaison physician role for hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary. He said these physicians will work with triage nurses and emergency department doctors to “expedite assessments, support diagnostics and begin care for patients.”
Doctors have put increased pressure on the United Conservative government, in recent weeks, to take action on overflowing hospitals. Last week, Edmonton physicians called on Alberta to declare a formal emergency because there is no more room to safely accept patients.
People are leaving EDs without having received care, are waiting days inside the departments – or in some cases, dying.
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Mr. Sreekumar was one of three people who died in the Grey Nuns ED on Dec. 22. Patrick Dumelie, chief executive of Covenant Health, said on Thursday that the two other deaths, the details of which are sparse, have been reviewed internally.
“Regrettably, the emergency department sees some very acutely ill people who experience heart attacks and other things associated with this,” Mr. Dumelie said. “I can say that those two other incidents have been followed through on ... and the matter is being well addressed.”
Mr. Jones acknowledged that Alberta hospitals are under “extreme pressure” but would not go so far as to call it a crisis. He said more capacity and health care workers must be added to the system, which is why he said the government is developing a 50-year capital plan for health infrastructure.
The good news, he said, is that the respiratory virus season is easing, which the province has underlined as the major contributor to hospital strain. But he noted, as doctors have stressed, other issues like rapid population growth and an aging and more medically complex population have exacerbated pressures.
Also on Thursday, Erin O’Neill, interim chief executive of Alberta Health Services, confirmed earlier reports that one of the two family medicine units at Edmonton’s University of Alberta Hospital will be relocated to Leduc, south of the capital. A neurosciences ICU will take its place.
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Physicians from that hospital, in a joint statement on Tuesday, urged Alberta to pause this plan. They said getting rid of 21 in-patient beds in family medicine will further strain its already overburdened ED and could hinder patient care.
Acute Care Alberta, which is one of the four organizations created as part of Premier Danielle Smith’s restructured health system, outlined other measures to address hospital demand earlier this week. This included opening surge spaces and accelerating discharges and transfers when appropriate.
Sarah Hoffman, Alberta New Democratic Party health critic, said the UCP is offering Band-Aid solutions to address capacity issues and lowering morale among health care workers by not admitting that it is a crisis.
“This isn’t just a typical day at the office with slightly more strain. This is unacceptable,” she said. “They deserve so much better.”