The Clinton Public Hospital is asking patients to register for care in the emergency department no later than 6 p.m. as of Thursday, September 16th.

In a release, the Huron-Perth Healthcare Alliance says due to ongoing staffing shortages, patients will no longer be accepted at the Clinton hospital after 6 p.m.

The emergency department will still remain open between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., but due to the nursing shortage and the amount of time it can take patients to be assessed and treated, patients will have to access other local emergency departments.

Those options include the Seaforth Community Hospital, Alexandra Marine & General Hospital in Goderich, South Huron Hospital in Exeter and Wingham & District Hospital.

The HPHA notes that nursing shortages are widespread across Ontario including in Huron and Perth, which has caused a full day closure in Clinton’s emergency department on August 1st. The HPHA says they are committed to finding a solution to the issue at Clinton Public Hospital as soon as they are able.

“While the Emergency Department will continue to operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day, due to the amount of time it may take for a patient to be assessed and treated, we will only be registering patients until 6 p.m.,” said Andrew Williams, President & CEO of the HPHA. “We must operate within the reduced hours ensuring the department closes at 8 p.m. in order to reduce regularly occurring after-hours work, improve the quality of life of our staff and support recruitment and retention efforts. When we do not have staff to safely provide quality patient care, a closure, like the one that occurred on August 1st could happen again.”