New Brunswick’s health minister warns contingency plans, such as diverting ambulances, could happen more as the province faces health-care staffing challenges.
Ambulances were being diverted from the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre to the Moncton Hospital over of the weekend as the longstanding nursing shortage continues to strain the health-care system.
“The shortage of nurses has hit us hard and the emergency department at the Dumont is especially affected,” Dr. France Desrosiers, president and CEO of Vitalité Health Network said in a statement Friday. “We now have no other choice but to apply this unpopular, but necessary, decision for the safety of patients and staff.”
Thomas Lizotte, a spokesperson for the health network, confirmed Monday ambulances stopped being diverted “during the weekend.”
Health minister responds
Health Minister Dorothy Shephard calls the situation “concerning” but warns this may not be the last example of a backup plan being implemented.
“Given our shortage of registered nurses and other medical professionals, we may see contingency plans, such as this, happen more often,” Shephard says in a statement.
“This is why we need to complete our dependable health care review process and our five-year health plan as soon as possible to have long-term strategies that bring stability to our health-care system,” she says.
Shephard says she has requested a meeting with Vitalité CEO Dr. France Desrosiers to address the situation and “to help mitigate these types of issues (service reduction) in the future.”
The minister says the province is also working to open more nursing seats in post-secondary institutions.
Nurses union concerns
Paula Doucet, president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union, says that could be due to Moncton’s unique situation with two hospitals within the city.
“This weekend was just a snapshot of what’s to come,” she says. “The nursing shortage is real.”
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But with 700 nursing vacancies across the province, she says working conditions and wages need to be addressed before it’s too late.
“Sadly, we are the lowest paid in the Atlantic provinces, if not across the country,” she says.
Doucet points to an example she’s heard of a high school graduate who was looking to become a registered nurse (RN), but might change her career path after being waitlisted by some post-secondary programs, including two in New Brunswick.
“She’s a graduate with a 93 per cent average, high distinction, comes with high recommendations from her teachers, has community involvement,” Doucet says, “and she’s been waitlisted on four different programs for nursing, two of which are in the province at UNB Fredericton and UNB Saint John.”
“This young student has now told her mom that she doesn’t want to wait to find out if she can follow her dream to be a registered nurse and now she’s looking at taking a bachelor of kinesiology to become a physiotherapist.”
Doucet has requested a meeting with Premier Blaine Higgs and Health Minister Dorothy Shephard to talk about what can be done.
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