Several Ontario hospitals reduced services in some areas over the weekend due to staff shortages, as an Ontario nurses union called on the province to address what it called an alarming situation.
Emergency departments were to remain closed at Wingham and District Hospital from Saturday night until the early hours of Sunday and at Listowel Memorial Hospital for much of the day on Sunday. In Huron County, Seaforth Community Hospital said it would temporarily close its ER overnight because it was understaffed.
In Bowmanville, Ont., the local hospital was temporarily closing its intensive care unit due to staff shortages. Lakeridge Health, which operates the site and four other hospitals in the Durham area, said staff from its Bowmanville facility will be consolidated into intensive care units at Ajax Pickering and Oshawa hospitals.
In Orangeville, Ont., Headwaters Health Care Center announced it is redirecting obstetrics services from Thursday to Monday due to a lack of pediatrician coverage. She said there are protocols in place to support patients if they come to the hospital to give birth.
The Ontario Nurses Association said it had heard from members about staffing shortages affecting more than a dozen hospitals in various ways ahead of the long weekend.
“It’s either closings, reducing beds, diverting patients, things like that,” association president Kathryn Hoy said in an interview Friday.
Hoy said her union was “concerned” about the impact the nurse shortage is having on patient care in Ontario and called on the government to meet with health unions to discuss solutions.
“We cannot wait any longer to resolve this crisis that is hurting Ontarians and their access to health care,” said Hoey.
Hospitals across Ontario have faced staffing issues in recent weeks, with some having to temporarily close emergency rooms and others having to rely on redeployed staff and students to cover shifts.
As examples of solutions to the crisis, Hoy suggested ensuring that internationally trained nurses are more quickly licensed to work in the province and speeding up a program to help registered practical nurses become registered nurses.
Nurses are also seeking more guaranteed access to personal protective equipment, he added, as exhausted workers face continued risk of COVID-19 during a seventh wave of infections with few public health measures to mitigate the spread.
There also needs to be incentives to bring back retired nurses who will be needed to train new graduates and nurses training outside of Ontario, Hoey said. He proposed repealing legislation limiting wage increases to one percent a year to attract workers to the industry.
The government said hospitals are expected to have plans in place to mitigate the risk to patient care when wards are closed.
These plans should include communicating to the public about reductions and alternative care options, staff designated to receive patients who are unaware of the emergency department closings, a procedure for inpatient coverage, and a staffed ambulance on standby in closed emergencies. department if possible.
A spokesman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones declined an interview request from The Canadian Press on Friday, but provided a written statement from Jones that said the province is working with “all partners” including hospitals and unions to address “the challenge of maintaining the required staff levels.”
He pointed to previous government efforts to boost staffing levels, including hiring internationally trained nurses and expanding a summer doctors program that matches doctors with hospitals that need help.
“We have an ambitious plan for the largest health care recruitment and training initiative in the history of the province, which is already starting to see results,” Jones’ statement said.
Jones has rarely spoken to the media since being sworn in as health secretary last month. Critics are calling for her to take a more public leadership role in the debate over the province’s hospital crisis and the government’s planned response to it.
Those calls were echoed by the Opposition New Democrats on Friday amid news of the closure of the Ontario Nurses Union.
“Where is Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones?” health critic France Gélinas said in a written statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 29, 2022.