Halifax ER sees rise in patients who need community services, not acute medical care

Dr. Jasmine Mah says families may turn to hospitals when they cannot find the long-term care, mental health care or home care needed for a loved one

CITYnews halifax \ Canadian Press

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HALIFAX — A Halifax physician and researcher says the city’s emergency department is seeing a rising number of patients who are admitted solely because of social circumstances. 

Dr. Jasmine Mah, the Dalhousie University researcher leading a study aimed at learning how to care for these patients, says they are often older people struggling to receive home care or unable to access community services.

Mah says she’s found that over the holidays the hospital sees a surge of social admissions — involving patients who do not have an acute medical issue but end up in hospital because they need care.

The doctor says some health-care workers have shared with her stories of adult children who return home for the holidays to find that their parents’ health has declined.

Mah says families may turn to hospitals when they cannot find the long-term care, mental health care or home care needed for a loved one.

She says that last year, Halifax’s QEII Health Sciences Centre emergency department recorded 109 cases of these patients and that the hospital is on track to see 120 cases in 2022 — up from 33 reported in 2019.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2022.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press