Lawmakers Call on New York Presbyterian to Improve E-R Conditions
Lawmakers Call on New York Presbyterian to Improve E-R Conditions
Lawmakers are recommending ways for the Upper Manhattan hospital to combat over crowding in its emergency rooms.
State Senator Adriano Espaillat says the average wait time at New York Presbyerian's emergency room is 729 minutes. That's more than 12 hours, which Espaillat says is more than twice the state and national averages.
"One day I entered the emergency rooms and saw the conditions of people in the hallways," he said. "People on stretchers, patients on chairs with IVs in their arms. This is not the kind of service we would like this top-notch hospital which claims, 'Amazing things are happening here,' to provide for our communities," he said.
Hospital officials say New York Presbyterian's in the process of building a new emergency room that will double the size and capacity of the current space when it opens in 2017. Until then, Senator Espaillat's recommending the hospital increase its emergency room staff and open more urgent care facilities in the surrounding area.
