A number of hospitals in Ontario have had to temporarily close their emergency departments due to the unavailability of nurses, as the Ontario Nurses Association says the province is almost 30,000 nurses short.
Campbellford Memorial Hospital (CMH) has had to close its emergency department twice over the last 11 months – once around Christmas and again for one evening in the summer due to a shortage of nurses.
“We’re on the cusp all the time when it comes to staffing,” said CMH interim president and CEO Eric Hanna.
“We’ve done staffing to Jan. 5, 2023, and there are days where it’s tenuous but we’re still a month and a half out and you’re making calls to fill those shifts.”
More recently, the Chesley site of South Bruce Grey Health Centre announced it was closing its emergency department from Oct. 7 to Dec. 2 due to a shortage of nurses.
“((The nursing shortage) has been going on for a long time,” said Cathryn Hoy, registered nurse and Ontario Nurses’ Association president.
“Even pre-pandemic. The Ontario Nurses’ Association had been lobbying the pre-Ford government, the Wynne government, for nurses back then. We were already about 20,000 nurses short back then. We’re still saying 22,000, no it’s not, it’s closer to 30,000 nurses short now.
In an emailed statement, the Ontario Ministry of Health referred to the province’s Plan to Stay Open as a way to deal with the ongoing issues at hospitals.
“Once fully implemented, the next phase of the Plan to Stay Open will add up to 6,000 more health care workers, including nurses and personal support workers, to Ontario’s health workforce, will free up over 2,500 hospital beds so that care is there for those who need it, and will expand models of care that provide better, more appropriate care to avoid unnecessary visits to emergency departments.”
This report first appeared on Global News.
