The emergency department at a local hospital will close for a long time due to staffing issues.
In a release on October 6, the South Bruce Grey Health Centre stated that the Chesley Emergency Department will completely close for 8 weeks as of October 7 due to a "critical shortage of nurses." While the ED in Chesley is closed, the inpatient unit, community lab collections and diagnostic imaging services will remain open and operational. The SBGHC began closing the Chesley ED at night back in September, but ongoing and more critical nursing shortages are forcing a full closure for the time being.
The release also shared that "active recruitment continues for nurses to come and work at SBGHC, however, the pool of available nurses is very limited in the current environment across the province."
“The health human resources shortage in the province is very challenging for all health care organizations. There are simply not enough licensed health care providers in the system – nurses, doctors, medical lab techs, etc. – to continue to provide the level of service that has been provided to date,” said Michael Barrett, SBGHC President & CEO. “For nursing specifically, the shortage is being amplified by the incentive to work as an agency nurse.”