The Ontario New Democrats say Premier Doug Ford needs to prioritize health care hiring after two emergency rooms were forced to temporarily close on the weekend due to staff shortages.
A hospital in Perth says its ER will not reopen until Thursday after two of its five nurses contracted COVID-19.
A hospital in Clinton also cited staff shortages for the closure of its ER on the weekend and a Kingston hospital temporarily reduced its urgent care centre, by hours, to consolidate staff at its emergency department.
Interim NDP leader Peter Tabuns says Ford needs to take steps to address what he calls the “growing crisis,” including amending the provincial budget to fund a major effort to recruit and retain nurses and doctors.
Quinte Health Care’s Catherine Walker tells us their hospitals continue to be significantly impacted by the current shortage of health care staff, including critical care nurses.
Staffing remains a day-to-day, sometimes shift-to-shift, challenge and at times QHC has to decrease the number of patients they can bring into the emergency room contributing to longer wait times.
At last week’s Board of Directors meeting, QHC President Stacey Daub said the provincial government knows it has to change the entire health care system, adding the answer is not to continue building new hospitals or adding beds.
With files from the Canadian Press
