A spokesperson for Southern Health-Santé Sud says the transition at Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach is going well. Dr. Denis Fortier is referring to their switch from pen and paper record keeping to computer data entry in the Emergency Department.

(Dr. Denis Fortier)On Tuesday of last week, the hospital made this transition and Dr. Fortier asked for patience from those visiting the ER. He suggested wait times could get longer until staff have the new system figured out and also hinted that for less urgent situations, people rather visit a clinic.

One week later, Dr. Fortier says the transition has been relatively smooth. The changeover has also happened at Boundary Trails Health Centre and Portage District Hospital. He notes there too, other than some information technology issues that delayed their launch by a day or two, the transition is going well.

Dr. Fortier says it is difficult to gauge whether or not wait times in Steinbach have been any longer over the last week.

"I would say that there might have been a slight increase in wait times but probably not out of the ordinary," explains Dr. Fortier. "In other words it could be just explained possibly by the usual fluctuations."

Further to that, he says the Steinbach hospital has seen normal traffic levels in the last week.

"It's hard to know if this would have been a crazy busy weekend and people decided not to come," says Dr. Fortier. "So I would say that there is still traffic coming through, but it hasn't been excessive."

Dr. Fortier says it is also difficult to know whether more people are choosing to head to Ste.Anne Hospital, where wait times might be shorter.

According to Dr. Fortier, the steep learning curve is expected to last until mid-April. He notes this is a great opportunity to remind the public that for non-urgent care, a clinic might be a better option than hitting the Emergency Department.

Read More:

Big Change Today For Bethesda ER, People Asked To Be Patient