The Siege of the QEH

Looking to better understand the situation at the Charlottetown Hospital I did something that seems out of the ordinary for an Island politician. This afternoon, I actually visited the emergency room (ER) to see how things were going in light of all of the published concerns.

I found something which really surprised me ----- a siege mentality. When I arrived at the ER there were 7 people waiting and the atmosphere seemed quite subdued. Two patients were there for 2 hours. Another person had been waiting for 5 hours. A couple of others had just recently arrived. One of the recent arrivals had been released earlier that morning. The patient, who had been in the hospital for months and still confined to a wheel chair, was sent to a manor but upon arrival was told to go back to the hospital. Back at the hospital they discovered there was no bed and so they were sitting in ER.

This is where it gets interesting, the person with the patient asked me to move to my left because they felt a hospital staff person was trying to overhear what I was being told. My brother who was with me confirmed there was a lot of curious activity by the security guard and a staff person.

As I left the couple and walked through the ER, my brother noticed that we were being followed. I acknowledged the stalker and asked who she was. She recognized me by name, ‘Mr. Llewellyn,’ and she said she was a communications officer for the hospital.

I asked why she was following me. She said something about not being able to talk because of confidentially issues.

Here is the problem…………. A known person (wearing a suit) enters the hospital ER and asks people how long they have been waiting. The staff person, instead than greeting me and introducing herself, as the hospital Communications Officer decided to follow me clandestinely rather than actually communicate with me.

Why do we have communications people trying to clandestinely follow public figures in a public hospital rather than speaking to them?

I went back at 6:10 p.m. There were about 10 people in the ER. From what I could see, none of the patients whom I saw earlier were still there.

The bottom line is that the workings of all our public institutions, hospitals in particular, need constant review and observation by the people who use them, including the administrative staff, and the people who are responsible for the funding of them. If more politicians took the time to periodically walk the hospital corridors and talk to the users first hand, they might get a true understanding of what is happening, both good and bad. It is a management philosophy I have used for years