Rural hospitals brace for summer staff shortages that could hurt ERs

Rural and small-town hospitals in the London region are bracing for summertime staff crunches but working on plans to keep emergency rooms open, as one hospital network already reduces hours at two area ERS due to staff constraints.

Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance, which has hospital locations in Stratford, St. Marys, Seaforth and Clinton, is cutting hours at two of its emergency rooms this weekend, a decision it was forced to make due to lack of staff.

The ER at Seaforth community hospital will close at 5 am on Saturday and reopen to 24-hour service on Sunday at 8 am

The closest 24-hour emergency rooms to Seaforth are in Exeter 30 kilometers away, Goderich 40 kilometers away or Stratford, a 38 kilometer drive. All neighboring ERs are approximately 30 minutes by car from Seaforth.

The ER at the Clinton public hospital will have extended hours on Saturday, from 8 am to 8 pm, but will remain closed Sunday and reopen Monday from 8 am to 6 pm, its regular hours.

Summer can be particularly difficult for smaller hospitals, with routine absences by doctors and nurses, including scheduled vacation, plus illnesses putting pressure on already under-staffed and over-capacity departments. Hospitals also see busy periods in the summer months and may handle a higher volume of acute injuries during so-called trauma season, the time between Victoria Day and Sept. 30.

Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance frequently was forced to close or reduce hours in some of its ERs last summer.

St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital has not had to close its emergency room in the past due to staff constraints and does not anticipate it will need to this summer, the hospital said Friday.

“We are doing everything possible to avoid reducing operating hours or closing our doors,” STEGH said in statement. “With summer around the corner, we expect pressures caused by staff shortages and increased demand; however, planning began some time ago to reduce the impact.”

The St. Thomas hospital handles more than 97,000 patient visits to its emergency room a year. With the summer expected to be a challenging time, the hospital is urgent patients with non-emergent issues to seek care with a family doctor or at a walk-in clinic instead of defaulting to an ER trip.

Middlesex Hospital Alliance, which has hospital sites in Strathroy and Newbury, said it is assessing the summer staffing situation in its two emergency rooms and has not made any final decisions on operational hours.

“We are seeing some of our peer community hospitals experience closures and know that nursing and physician staffing shortages are a grim reality and will continue to be a challenge across the province this summer,” president and chief executive Julie McBrien said in an emailed statement.

Both of Middlesex Hospital Alliance’s emergency rooms are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and handle more than 27,000 patient visits a year.

While other hospitals in the region are wary about summer patient volumes and staffing levels, Sarnia’s Bluewater Health and the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance both say they are prepared for the months ahead.

Staffing levels at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance’s Wallaceburg and Chatham sites are “manageable,” the hospital said in a statement Friday. The network does not foresee the need to temporarily close or cut hours at its two ERs in the coming months.

“CKHA’s current overall vacancy rate, as of April 30, 2023, was 6.67 per cent. This progress provides a more encouraging outlook for staffing at the hospital during peak vacation periods this summer compared with the previous year,” the hospital said.

Bluewater Health’s emergency departments in Sarnia and Petrolia are fully staffed with nurses and physicians for the summer, said care transitions vice-president Lisa Regan.

“There is no plan to close or reduce hours at either emergency department,” Regan said Friday. “We had an atypical summer last year with a surge, but our numbers have been consistent since the fall.”

jbieman@postmedia.

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