A Former NHS Doctor’s Take On A Broken Niagara Hospital System

(The following letter was written by Dr.Paul Dobrovolskis, a former Niagara Health System doctor, to Wayne Gates, a Niagara Falls, Ontario city councillor and president of Local 199 of the Canadian Auto Workers. It is not out of line with emails and phone conversations Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper has received from doctors still working for the NHS and fear reprisals if they were to express their views publicly.)

Dear Mr. Gates,

I believe we have met in the past, particularly the night Ms. Sevenpiper (now former CEO for the Niagara Health System) spoke at (Niagara Falls) council. Kudos to you on your efforts to bring openess and transparency to the NHS.

Niagara Falls, Ontario councillor and Canada Auto Workers local president Wayne Gates speaks at hospital care rally. Photo by Doug Draper

As a former ER/Anesthesia and ICU doctor in the system  I left when it became obvious that the system was doomed to collapse, and in the process harm the very people it was intended to serve.

I had seen cutbacks where not only cleaning staff but nurses , cooks and
every support member except administrators were cut. When the cuts all
started I recall walking in the hospital with one of the nurses and we
conversed about how the cleaning of the hospital was becoming superficial and we foresaw trouble five years ago. My wife, (a nurse) remarked one day on visiting a friend in the hospital that the rooms were filthy.

We watched cleaning staff do a superficial wipe down and run to the next room as they were behind in their work and had more rooms than ever assigned to them.

In the ER, before it was built and during SARS, I argued that all ER rooms
should be modeled as ICU rooms so we could treat anything in a room without
constantly moving patients from room to room in the ER. A patient might be
seen in one room, moved to another room for a procedure and then be moved
two or three more times before finally getting admitted to a single room.

During SARS this was identifed as a major issue and despite the warnings
from the ER group at the time, the plan moved forward to create an ER that
was below standard the day it opened. Administration over ruled the concept as
being impractical and the risk was acceptable.

It seems the administration has lost touch with all aspects of managing a
hospital. Since our leaving, the NHS has lost the ER based stroke team, the
CBRN unit (actually it’s fully trained crew) has become dependant on
healthforce and MedEmerg to staff the ER, lost hospitalists and has entered
the ranks of one of the lowest perfoming ER’s in Ontario and Canada.

To add insult to injury, the stipend cost nearly $2 million per year paid for by
taxpayer dollars to get less than what we once had a no charge.
Council has a right to be upset, but more so has a right to be angry. On
wednesday the NHS will likely not be present at the rally, will issue a
statement vetted by Risk Management and then remain quiet and absent till
this blows over.

I urge you to keep the pressure on and to convince council
that they all need to be present at the (July 6)  rally.

I wish I could be there, but I am in Thunder Bay working and can’t come down. Besides, as one of the fiercest agitators for accountability, I am not
allowed on hospital property.
Good luck on Wednesday!

Dr.Paul Dobrovolskis MD
Former NHS Physician