Hospital staffing will “get worse before it gets better” says Shephard
Just a few days after a rally of hundreds outside the Sackville Memorial Hospital calling for a solution to the health care staffing crisis, Horizon Health announced an additional unexpected closure of emergency services at the hospital over the weekend.
At about 1:30pm Saturday, Horizon issued an public service announcement saying that the Sackville ER would close early “due a sudden unavailability of physician and nurse coverage.”
The Sackville ER is already operating on reduced hours, open just 8 hours a day, from 8am to 4pm, seven days a week. And acute care services at the hospital have also been suspended due to staff shortages.
The closure on Saturday seemed to echo the words of health minister Dorothy Shephard at a news conference the day before, when she said the staffing situation in Sackville would “get worse before it gets better.”
“We’re dealing with long standing issues that have never really been addressed,” said Shephard. “And they go back many years.”
“We have recruitment and retention programs that are implemented now that we will be enhancing in the weeks coming forward,” said Shephard. “And that’s our only way out of this. We have got to get the personnel that can to deliver the programs that we have there.”
Shephard also reiterated a commitment made by Horizon interim CEO John Dornan earlier in the week, that there was no plan to shut down or cut back services at the Sackville Memorial Hospital.… Continue
Horizon officials commit to hospital future, say recent cuts were necessary
There were some unexpected guests at Monday’s Sackville town council meeting. At the invitation of Mayor Shawn Mesheau, Horizon CEO John Dornan and three other senior staff attended the meeting via video conference, to address concerns raised in a letter from the Rural Action Health Group sent that same day.
The letter was itself a response to an announcement on Friday from Horizon, that they would be converting the acute care unit at Sackville Memorial Hospital to beds for people waiting placement in long term care facilities. The letter from the Rural Health Action group outlined three demands:
● quick action and public commitment to return the Sackville Memorial Hospital to 24/7 ER services and 21 acute care beds, as before
● Horizon budget commitments in line with ours, to continue our collaboration on recruitment
● honest staffing numbers, needs and predictions, so our recruitment efforts will be honest and successful.
At the Monday meeting, Dornan immediately gave re-assurances that Horizon was committed to reopening services at Sackville Memorial.
“I’m going to start things off by saying that we are, as a healthcare corporation, nothing but supportive of Sackville Memorial Hospital,” said Dornan, and promised to deliver in written form a “commitment to supporting 24/7 care at Sackville Memorial, as well as active inpatient care, operating room services, specimen collection and emergency room care.”… Continue
Wednesday on TR: Hospital rally today; Higham on Horizon’s response to frustration in Sackville
Listen to Tantramar Report for the following stories:
Hospital rally Wednesday at 11:30am
Sackville and area residents are rallying today at 11:30am at the Sackville Memorial Hospital. The Rural Health Action Group is asking people to come protest the recent service closures at the hospital and call for action on the crisis. Guest speakers will be presenting at the rally. Masks are mandatory and parking is available just down the street at Main Street Baptist church and Moneris.
Interview: John Higham on hospital cuts, Rural Health Action Group and and Horizon’s response
On Tantramar Report we talk with John Higham, former Sackville mayor and co-chair of the Rural Health Action Group. Higham talks about the group’s work, his reaction to comments from Horizon Health CEO John Dornan at Monday’s town council meeting, and the path forward for the Sackville hospital.
Also on Tantramar Report, we look at what Horizon officials had to say at Sackville town council on Monday.
Horizon issues call to nurses to come work in Sackville
After promising action on recruitment at Monday’s Sackville town council meeting, Horizon CEO John Dornan issued a statement on Tuesday, addressed to “current and future New Brunswick nurses.” In the statement, Dornan pitches Sackville as a “friendly, welcoming and progressive community” and offers nurses financial incentives for certain eligible positions, including a one-time incentive of $10,000 in exchange for an agreement to work for three years.… Continue
Rural Health Action Group calls for immediate action to repair “fundamentally broken” relationship with Horizon, province
The co-chairs of the Memramcook-Tantramar Community Task Force and the Rural Health Action Group are angry, and they’re not playing nice anymore.
In a strongly-worded letter addressed to the premier, Minister of Health Dorothy Shephard, Horizon CEO John Dornan, and other Horizon managers, the group says the relationship with Horizon management and the department of health has been “fundamentally broken” after an announcement on Friday informing them the Sackville Memorial Hospital would be closing its acute care unit.
Read the full letter of response here (pdf).
“We are embarrassed by our efforts to recruit people for jobs you seem to have no plans to actually offer. We are humiliated in the face of increasing numbers of citizens who ‘told us so’ about the government’s disingenuous nature. We believe that you don’t even understand your own Action Plan; it’s folly to think you can do ‘business as usual’ and then expect different results,” states the letter, signed by former Sackville mayors Pat Estabrooks and John Higham, and former councillor Margaret Tusz-King.
The Rural Health Action Group has been mobilizing since the summer, when Horizon announced cuts to ER service at the Sackville hospital, reducing it to 8 hours per day on weekends. That has since been expanded to a full seven days.
The group secured $15,000 in funding from the Town of Sackville to put toward recruitment activities, and has plans to work with the hospital foundation to fundraise further.
Group leaders were meeting with Horizon management, and had been informed that the most recent cuts to ER service were being made in order to maintain staffing levels for acute care.… Continue
Horizon to close acute care beds in Sackville
Horizon has informed local leaders of plans to temporarily close inpatient acute care at the Sackville Memorial Hospital. The network plans to convert all inpatient beds at the hospital to transitional care beds for patients who are waiting for long term care placement.
On Friday evening, Pat Estabrooks and John Higham, the co-chairs of the Memramcook-Tantramar Rural Health Action Group, received a letter from Horizon’s VP of clinical services, Eileen MacGibbon, making the announcement. MacGibbon gave no timeline, and attributed the move to the ongoing nursing shortage at the hospital.
The letter says that “going forward, Sackville patients who require acute care will be transferred to Horizon’s The Moncton Hospital.”
This latest move, although deemed temporary, means services at the Sackville Memorial Hospital are even more reduced today than they would have been had cuts announced in February 2020 gone through.
Just under 2 years ago, then Horizon CEO Karen McGrath announced a reduction in services to six rural hospitals, including the Sackville Memorial Hospital. The plan would have reduced existing 24/7 ER services by about one third, down to 16 hours per day, between 8am and midnight. It would also have converted acute care beds at the hospital to long term care beds.
After a massive outcry across the province, including protests at community hospitals, the provincial government pulled the plug. The plan was scrapped and a province wide consultation was promised before a new plan would be proposed.… Continue
Sackville ER closed again Sunday due to nursing staff shortage
The Emergency Department at Sackville Memorial Hospital is closed unexpectedly again today (Sunday) due to a shortage of nursing staff.
The ER will re-open Monday at 8 am.
The additional last-minute closure was announced by Horizon in a news release Saturday afternoon. It’s the third last minute closure announced this week. On Tuesday, the ER was closed unexpectedly at 7pm on Tuesday, and remained closed on Saturday. The ER has not been able to re-open since it closed Friday at 4pm for its expected weekend overnight closure.
Overnight weekend ER closures have been in effect at the Sackville Memorial Hospital since June 11.
During the closures, the Emergency Department will not see patients and ambulances will be diverted to other hospitals. All patients and clients requiring urgent medical care will need to seek treatment at another hospital.
Horizon advises anyone experiencing a medical emergency to call 911 as always, and to call 811 if they have any questions about the type of medical attention they require.… Continue
Sackville ER closed today due to nursing staff shortage
The Emergency Department at Sackville Memorial Hospital is closed unexpectedly today (Saturday) due to a shortage of nursing staff.
The ER will re-open for the day on Sunday August 15, from 8am to 4pm, and then close again overnight Sunday, as part of overnight weekend closures announced in June.
Regular 24-hour emergency services will resume Monday at 8 am, and continue until Friday at 4 pm.
The additional last-minute closure was announced by Horizon in a news release late Friday night, and it’s the second last minute closure announced this week. On Tuesday, the Sackville ER was closed unexpectedly at 7pm and remained closed overnight.
Overnight weekend ER closures have been in effect at the Sackville Memorial Hospital since June 11.
During the closures, the Emergency Department will not see patients and ambulances will be diverted to other hospitals. All patients and clients requiring urgent medical care will need to seek treatment at another hospital.
Horizon advises anyone experiencing a medical emergency to call 911 as always, and to call 811 if they have any questions about the type of medical attention they require.… Continue