The NL Medical Association understands that introducing a massive system change like the CorCare program is going to result in growing pains, but they are concerned about patient safety issues that have come to light since the program’s rollout.
NLMA President Dr. Cynthia Slade says physicians are noticing delays in the delivery of patient results, gaps in key functions like ordering medications or accessing necessary documentation, and the impact it’s having on ER and primary care wait times.
(VOCM News)
“We’re seeing increased wait times in primary care clinics, in emergency rooms…delays in people accessing procedures. We’re seeing missed referrals, we’re seeing concerns about some results being sent to the wrong provider, with patient confidentiality being breached when referrals have been incorrectly routed to the wrong department. At the end of the day we’re really worried about patients falling through the cracks.”
She says wait times are of added concern.
“We hear about people leaving the emergency department because the wait is too long, and we don’t know why these people are leaving. They could be there with very serious health concerns and they’re leaving without being seen.”
Dr. Slade says NLHS is taking steps to address the issues as they arise and is meeting regularly with the NLMA to gain an understanding of the problems.
