N.B. health minister promises to spend 24 hours in Moncton Hospital emergency room

New Brunswick’s health minister is going to stay at a hospital’s ER for 24 hours to get a sense of what patients are experiencing.

New Brunswick’s Minister of Health is promising to spend 24 hours in the Moncton Hospital’s emergency department waiting room, in order to experience what it’s like to have to wait that long for care.

Dr. John Dornan told reporters on Friday he was invited to spend time in the ER while making an announcement regarding a new endoscopy suite at the Moncton Hospital Thursday.

He accepted that invitation, and while he doesn’t have a date yet – he does have a vision of what it will be like.

“I don’t want to disrupt services. I don’t want to be a distraction. I’ll bring a good book. I’ve been advised to use the vending machines because that’s what people have. That’s all they have some days,” he said. “And so I won’t try to make it easier by doing other things at that time. Except perhaps a good book. Some emails. This is what people, waiting members often do to distract themselves.”

He says it will likely be from 2 p.m. until 2 p.m. the following day.

The endocrinologist, ICU physician and former Horizon Health CEO – turned health minister – says he’s spent many 24 to 36 hours shifts in hospitals, but acknowledged that treating one patient at a time is much different than waiting.

“To sit there and not have much to do, not knowing when you’re going to be called and perhaps be senior and have an illness… I have never experienced that. So I think it’s reasonable for me to try that on. And I am going to do it and I think I will be better educated,” he said.

Opposition leader Glen Savoie commended the idea, but said it won’t be completely accurate.

“When you are a person who’s actually sick and in need of care, that weight feels very different,” he said. “It’s not the same when you’re perfectly healthy and you’re feeling fine.”

The parameters and date of the wait will likely be decided by the person who invited him, Dornan said.

But he says he accepted the invitation immediately.

“It’s one thing for people to tell me what they feel like. It’s another thing to be able to say, yes, brother, I know what it feels like,” he said.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.