60 per cent of New Brunswickers use the emergency room for non emergency reasons, that according to a recent survey by the New Brunswick Health Council.
Many of them are using it as their regular place of care and this results in less efficient service delivery.
CEO Stephane Robichaud says especially if a person is dealing with a chronic health conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes, pulmonary conditions and asthma, “The emergency room is not a proper place of care for issues related to these chronic conditions.”
Robichaud says, “In order to improve a person ability to to understand their medications, and to manage their conditions, they need to have a regular place of care, in order to help them better manage their conditions.”
But one of the issues is, a lack of access to family doctors. Robichaud says that is one of the key things that drives people to end up using the ER instead.
