One of New Brunswick’s health authorities is asking people with non-life-threatening medical needs to not come to the Moncton Hospital and the Saint John Regional Hospital emergency departments.
In a release, Horizon Health Network said the two hospitals are experiencing “critical shortages” of nursing staff this weekend, from Friday until Sunday.
It said those with non-life-threatening medical needs should not go to either of those emergency departments “as we do not have capacity to triage and care for these patients.”
Sudden onset symptoms, such as chest or stomach pain or weakness in limbs, should be treated as urgent. Those with chronic conditions who are experiencing more normal symptoms should seek care elsewhere, the authority said.
“We recognize the seriousness of this situation and the difficulties it may bring to Moncton and Saint John area residents, as well as to our staff and physicians,” said Margaret Melanson, Horizon’s interim president and CEO, in the release.
“We are providing on-site support to our staff and physicians who will be providing care to patients with critical injuries or illnesses over the weekend and are thankful for their dedication to their patients.”
The release said this request is being made to ensure the hospital staff “can continue to provide safe and high-quality care to those who are seriously ill.”
“Like health authorities across the country, Horizon continues to face immense pressures related to staffing shortages,” the release said.
“We continue to look at all options to prioritize the delivery of safe and quality care for patients while creating a safe and quality work environment for our staff and physicians.”
The release said Horizon is working closely with Vitalité Health Network to provide emergency services to the entire population.
“These challenges are common to both health authorities and that is why we ask everyone in the Moncton and Saint John areas to help us preserve care for those who need it most and only come to the ED if your health concern is critical,” it said.
The network asked that those with non-urgent needs should visit sowhywait.ca for other health care options or visit evisitnb.ca for information about virtual care.
They can also try visiting another community hospital emergency department, such as:
- Horizon’s Sackville Memorial Hospital (40 minutes, from TMH), open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; or
- Horizon’s Sussex Health Centre (50 minutes from each TMH and SJRH), open 24/7; or
- Horizon’s St. Joseph’s Hospital Urgent Care Centre in Saint John (10 minutes from SJRH), open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; or
- Horizon’s Charlotte County Hospital in St. Stephen (1 hours and 15 minutes from SJRH), open 24/7.
“Both health networks are working diligently to return to normal operations, and we thank the community for their understanding,” the release said.
Staff recruitment
During a news conference Friday, Horizon Health said the shortage was due to a few factors, including a music festival in Dieppe, staff vacations and staff sick with COVID-19.
“It was really the combination of factors that is bringing this forward this weekend in a greater urgency than what we’ve seen previously,” Melanson, the interim president and CEO, said.
Last week, the health authority touted the fact that it had hired 1,300 staff since April, an amount it often hires in a year. However, in that time they lost 662 staff due to retirements, resignations and terminations, leaving a net gain of 638 staff over the last four months.
At the time, Melanson said the impacts of the recruiting drive will be seen in the next few weeks, which she reiterated at Friday’s conference.
“Our intention is that with our recruitment efforts we will begin to see increased support and capacity within our emergency departments. We’re also hopeful that when staff have returned from vacations that our base staffing will be increased from what it’s been over the summer period of time,” Melanson said.
“So it’s certainly our hope that we will be able to begin running our emergency departments, particularly the large regional centres, in a bit more of a stabilized fashion than perhaps we’ve been able to.”
Dr. Mark MacMillan, the president of the New Brunswick Medical Society, says he thinks the province is on the right track when it comes to recruitment and retention.
MacMillan is a gastroenterologist at the Dr. Edward Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton and says staffing levels are improving in his unit.
But there can often be lengthy training periods for staff joining certain departments which takes time, he said.
“These nurses who work in the emergency departments require extra training, so those we have hired, our new nurses, take some time to get trained and enabled to work in those departments because it’s a very busy a specialized department,” he said.
— with files from Silas Brown
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