No quick solution for Ste Anne ER troubles

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This article was published 13/12/2018 (1959 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Southern Health says it will reconvene in late January to discuss if the health authority is any closer to getting the hours at the emergency room at Ste Anne Hospital back to normal 24 hour service.

The emergency room has operated on reduced hours (8 a.m.-8 p.m.) since late October, as it is currently running with only four physicians.

“We re-evaluated where we were at in terms of physician resources, and really nothing had changed,” said Southern Health chief medical officer Denis Fortier, regarding a meeting on Nov. 30.

“There have been no new hires at all in that time.”

He noted that they are awaiting one doctor’s return from a medical leave that began in October.

Once the emergency room has five physicians, Fortier said they can discuss the possibility of getting back to normal service hours, but he cautioned that five physicians would not ensure that hours could go back to normal, and those discussions won’t happen until a meeting planned for late January.

“With five physicians and with the patient numbers we are looking at, we’re fairly confident we can probably keep things going for a while until a solution is found,” Fortier said.

“But we want to have that conversation with the physicians because I don’t want to be the one dictating that the minute we hit five we are opening. The minute we hit five we are going to have a conversation and ask if they think they can do this safely at that number.”

Fortier said Southern Health is also hoping to recruit additional physicians in the summer when a new crop of grads are looking for jobs.

“We are really hoping to recruit in May and June, and then have those new hires begin in July or August,” Fortier said.

Anyone in the Ste Anne area experiencing an emergency is asked to call 911. All ambulances will continue to be redirected to other emergency departments until further notice.

Fortier said the ER will be closed daily at 8 p.m., but anyone that enters the ER before 8 p.m. will be admitted.

Acute care and obstetrical services at the Ste Anne Hospital are not affected by the emergency room hours of operation reduction.