Dedicated ER doctors and reduced hours are part of the government’s plan to help avoid further closures at Kings County Memorial Hospital in Montague.
Speaking to the media Tuesday, Health Minister Robert Mitchell said the changes were needed to keep the emergency room open and sustainable.
“We are thinking it’s a good move forward and we’re going to be initiating that on July 1,” he said.
The changes Mitchell announced Tuesday include reducing the hours of operation for the hospital’s emergency room so it will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. starting July 1.
It currently operates from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. when there is enough physician coverage for the emergency room to be open.
Mitchell said the majority of patients who went to the emergency room did so during the day and he tabled a document in the legislature, which confirmed that was the case.
The province is looking to recruit two dedicated emergency department doctors to work at the hospital alongside other physicians from the area who will pick up some shifts, Mitchell said.
Related: Montague hospital says ER policy change critical to avoid closures
Changes are also coming to the Montague Health Centre, which will open on Mondays and Wednesday, 4-7 p.m., for people who are patients of the Eastern Kings or Montague health centres.
Mitchell said there may be further changes at some point.
“We will revisit it at the end of summer to see how things are working and hopefully they’re working better,” he said.
The changes come after a string of emergency room closures in Montague as the emergency room faced a shortage of physician coverage, including 13 days for the month of June.
Mitchell said one physician went on maternity leave while another went on extended leave, which created gaps in the shift coverage.
“This is a method of closing those gaps,” he said.
Until the province can recruit permanent emergency room doctors, the plan is to use temporary doctors on contract, Mitchell said.
Opposition health critic Sidney MacEwen,who has been critical of the government’s handling of the emergency room closures, continued that criticism Tuesday.
MacEwen questioned the effectiveness of the planned changes.
“If we could recruit doctors that easy, the problem would be fixed already,” he said.
The Opposition has repeatedly suggested expanding scope of practice for other health-care providers to alleviate some problems in the system, including pharmacists, nurse practitioners and registered nurses, MacEwen said.
“We need to look in a new direction.”
MacEwen said the changes aren’t a new model.
“This is not showing leadership,” he said.
