New hires, plans for Sackville clinic, and plenty of concerns up for discussion at local healthcare meeting
Two years afters cuts were announced due to nursing staff shortages, the Sackville Memorial Hospital emergency room is still on reduced hours, but Horizon Health Network CEO Margaret Melanson is continuing with her message that the network’s goal is to return to full 24/7 service.
Melanson had a chance to deliver that message in person last night at a Future of Our Healthcare meeting organized by Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton.
About 120 people gathered at the Tantramar Civic Centre to ask questions of Melanson and members of her management team.
“I will say that tonight feels different than February 2020,” Mitton told the crowd, referencing a previous attempt by Horizon management to reduce services at the Sackville hospital. “I know a lot of you showed up in different ways and sometimes in the streets to push back on that,” said Mitton, ”and many people have been organizing ever since.”
Melanson shared some updates on the hospital front, including the recent hiring of an anesthesiologist to cater to surgeries happening in the one functioning Sackville operating room. She also told the crowd that a new emergency department physician would be starting soon. For awhile now, the original nursing shortage that caused the service reduction has been replaced by a doctor shortage. That means the imminent hiring of a new ER doc “is great progress,” said Melanson, “as we do have the plan to be restoring your emergency department services on a 24/7 basis.”… Continue
Sackville hospital to double OR capacity in 2023 as part of Horizon operating room expansion plan
Note: This story has been updated with a response from the Department of Health and comments from local retired doctor, Ross Thomas.
Two operating rooms at the Sackville Memorial Hospital are set to get some TLC starting in 2023.
On Friday, Horizon Health announced a plan to invest about $6.4 million in operating rooms (ORs) at the Sackville hospital and three other community hospitals in the province. In Sackville, that means spending about $2 million to upgrade one operating room that’s currently in use, and renovate another room to make it functional again.
The overall plan is to ramp up the use of ORs in community hospitals across the province to help alleviate the surgical backlog for less complex day surgeries, which will in turn allow more complex surgeries to happen more quickly in the regional hospitals.
“These programs will not only increase the number of hip and knee replacements completed each year, but in many cases, they will also increase our capacity for orthopedic surgery, cataract surgery, endoscopy and other procedures,” says acting Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson. “Augmenting the surgical services at these community facilities will also allow our regional hospitals to complete more complex and acute cases, which is a win-win for the broader healthcare system.”
Operating rooms are part of the centralized surgical system at Horizon.… Continue
Horizon asks people to stay away from Moncton and Saint John ERs in face of weekend staffing crunch
Horizon Health Network says its Moncton and Saint John hospitals are facing critical staffing shortages this weekend, and so they are asking people not to come to Moncton and Saint John ERs unless they are facing a life- or limb- threatening situation.
Interim Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson made the announcement to reporters Friday morning:
“This is an extreme and serious circumstance and not a decision or request that we make lightly,” said Melanson. “We need to ensure Moncton and Saint John emergency department teams can continue to provide safe and high quality care to those with critical injuries and illnesses.”
Melanson outlined alternatives for care that Horiozon is asking the public to use this weekend, including:
- visiting a pharmacy for prescription refills,
- booking an appointment with evisitNB or your family physician,
- visiting an after hours clinic,
- calling telecare 811,
- visiting sowhywait.ca, or,
- going to a community hospital with capacity to see patients with less serious ailments.
The Sackville Memorial Hospital ER fits that description and is open this weekend from 8am to 4pm each day.
Moncton ER doctor Serge Melanson encouraged people to consult professionals as advised by the Horizon CEO, but he also gave advice for people wondering how to know when a health issue is potentially life threatening or might “constitute a crisis or emergency.”
“As a general rule of thumb,” said Dr.… Continue