“these closures are staggering. the numbers are like nothing we have seen before,” mehra told a media conference at queen’s park on tuesday. “these are the most urgent health-care services that we have in our communities. that means, without question, peoples’ lives have been put at risk.”
natalie mehra of the ontario health coalition says the number of temporary emergency department closures in ontario means peoples’ lives have been put “at risk.”
laura dalton
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laura daltonl/standard-freeholde
until 2022, temporary emergency department closures in ontario were rare. but staff shortages, especially a shortage of nurses, forced a number of closures that year and numbers continued to rise in 2023 as the health staffing crisis worsened and covid-19 continued to affect nurses, putting more strain on hospitals.
in addition to closures in smaller hospitals around ottawa this year, there have been frequent emergency department and other service closures across the province. some of the most difficult have been in the north, where hospitals can be hours apart.
in some parts of mid-western ontario — in perth, huron wellington, dufferin, bruce and gray counties — multiple emergency departments have been closed at the same time, with little notice.
“patients in medical crisis have to confirm on their own that the next hospital emergency isn’t also closed,” mehra said.
opposition politicians at queen’s park called for urgent action from the provincial government to better fund hospitals and bring nurses back into the system