VICTORIA – The B.C. Liberals’ failure to address hospital overcrowding is creating chaos for medical staff and compromising patient care at Royal Columbian Hospital, say B.C.’s New Democrats.

“Despite growing concern from hospital staff about emergency room overcrowding and the lack of acute care beds in the Fraser Health Authority, the Liberal government refuses to take responsibility and own up to their mismanagement of the health care system,” said New Democrat health critic Judy Darcy.

“I have heard first hand from doctors, nurses and front-line staff about the disastrous state of Royal Columbian’s emergency room – there are simply not enough beds and not enough staff to handle the high volume of patients. One doctor has even described the chaotic scene to me as similar to a war zone. Despite knowing about the systemic problems at Fraser Health Authority hospitals for years, the government has failed to take immediate action and sufficiently increase the number of available staff and beds.”

Conditions at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster have been in a constant state of chaos with one crisis after another occurring. Using hallways as overflow sections for patients on emergency and medical floors has become routine practice as staff are faced with overcrowding. Two emergency room doctors have also spoken out about the situation, referring to the ER as “grossly inefficient.”

“If the Liberal government refuses to address inadequate staffing levels, then we will continue to see the same problems time and time again.”