Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s question. Yesterday we happened to be out of session, and I was in my office all day. I spent the better part of my day addressing this specific situation. I talked to the husband of the patient myself. I know my deputy minister has talked to the patient’s husband in Yellowknife. We had a nurse in the department mobilizing the key people in the department to move this patient along into a room as quickly as was possible.
This patient had a stroke. She had to be sent to Edmonton. It was a decision made by the doctor here. She had to be near cardiology and neurology services so that she could be monitored. Capital Health’s Edmonton Clinic hospital is right now under what’s called full capacity protocol. They are completely full, and they have waiting lists. They have 50 patients in emergency rooms. It was safer for that patient to stay in the emergency room until they got a bed and she was able to get that. There were a few neurology patients, and it was really important for her safety and for the best practice of health. The doctor here and the doctor there thought that she had to be close to that hospital.
It is really unfortunate that she was not able to get a bed, but for reasons of traffic and volume of work required at the Edmonton Royal Alexandra Hospital, that was what they had to do.