Controversy over staffing at Surrey Memorial Hospital
The Code Blue team, critical for life saving interventions, is less than two weeks away from having no coverage without these experts. A heart attack on a hospital ward. It means a death sentence. Heated debate at the legislature, with BC United warning of more staff shortages at Surrey Memorial Hospital, but the health minister reassuring people that Code Blue protocols are in place over the long weekend. That’s Terry Morrow. We have a medical emergency team. Contracted Contracted to provide 13,140 service hours of Code Blue coverage to ensure patients are careful during cardiac emergencies. For example, Code Blue coverage under the contract is provided 24 hours daily, 365 days per year. 63 physicians are participating in that contract. Code BLUE teams respond to hospital medical emergencies such as heart attacks. Doctor Claudine Stornis Bliss is an OBGYN at Surrey Memorial Hospital. And running for BC United as an MLA candidate for Suri Cloverdale, she says recruitment for Code Blue teams has been difficult because they are not well compensated. Honestly, I’ve never seen health care this bad, period. I have never seen holes in the cold blue team. It would mean that if a patient is admitted to a ward, a medical ward, and they have a cardiac arrest, their response would be significantly delayed. And it puts that patient’s life at risk. And as a surgeon operating in a hospital likes her memorial. That terrifies me. There are moments when it when issues arise, people seem sometimes aren’t available and we work with people to solve them. There’s not going to be an issue on the Victoria Day long weekend. I think to be kind of raising that and trying to raise concerns and scare people about it. We have a contract in place, we got great doctors. The doctor says issues around recruitment for Code Blue teams have been brought up with Fraser Health, but efforts to find real solutions have failed. Grace Key global news.