Health care update: doctors needed for Sackville ED, acute care back in the fall, Coon calls for change
There are almost enough nurses hired to fill positions at the Sackville Memorial Hospital emergency department (ED), but the hospital has less than half the doctors it needs.
According to information released recently by Horizon Health Network, nine out of ten registered nurse (RN) positions in the Sackville ED are filled, but only three out of seven physician positions are filled.
The two most recent closures of the Sackville ED were due to a shortage of doctors available to work. At least two doctors stopped working in the department after a recent change by Horizon, which lifted a rule requiring them to work ED shifts in order to maintain a practice in Sackville. The change was meant to help make recruitment of new doctors to the Sackville area easier, since not all family doctors want to work in emergency.
Nurse practitioners and the return of acute care?
In his monthly report to council, Mayor Shawn Mesheau says that interim Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson recently re-affirmed the committment to return 24/7 service to the Sackville hospital ED.
Mesheau and other local mayors met with Melanson and newly appointed trustee Suzanne Johnston in August. Mesheau reported that nurse practitioners are now working alongside doctors in the Sackville ED to help cover primary care related needs. His report also says that several acute care beds are expected to be opening in the Brunswick Unit of Sackville hospital in October.… Continue