The emergency department at Queens General Hospital will be closed at 1:30 p.m. Friday for the whole weekend and reopen Monday at 8 a.m.
Earlier Thursday, Nova Scotia Health said the ER would be closed from Thursday morning (Feb. 1) and reopen Friday morning before closing again Friday afternoon for the whole weekend.
But in an advisory sent after 5 p.m., it amended the ER’s hours, saying it reopened at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Nova Scotia Health did not give a reason for the temporary closure. The emergency department at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will remain open.
The ER at Queens General was closed for part or all of the day for 13 days in November, 15 in December and 15 in January. A Nova Scotia Health official told QCCR in January that staffing is the main reason.
The ER at Roseway Hospital in Shelburne is also open.
Patients of Queens Family Health can call for same-day appointments for certain conditions at 902-354-3322.
If you’re still waiting to be assigned a doctor or nurse practitioner, Nova Scotia Health says you can also access VirtualCareNS.
The Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Line is also available any time by calling 1-888-429-8167.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
By Rick Conrad
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Nova Scotia Health gave no reason for the temporary closure. This will be the 13th time this month that the emergency department has been closed for all or part of the day.
A Nova Scotia Health official told QCCR last week that the ER has a “significant” staff vacancy rate and needs to hire 10 more nurses. She did not know how many more doctors are needed.
The emergency department at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater is open. Or Nova Scotia Health suggests calling 911 if you have a medical emergency. For general health advice and information, call 811.
Patients of Queens Family Health can also call the same-day clinic at Queens General at 902-354-3322.
If you’re on the Need a Family Practice Registry, you can access VirtualCareNS.
Staffing shortages are once again being blamed for ongoing temporary closures at the emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool.
Darlene Davis, the executive director for community and rural health for Nova Scotia Health’s western zone, said Thursday it boils down to not enough doctors or nurses, despite hiring efforts to bolster the Queens ER in the past year.
“We have seen more frequent closures than we’d like to see in the ED department, certainly,” she said in an interview.
“We’re constantly in a position of recruitment. And it is a challenge to try to keep staff onboarded. People leave for a variety of reasons, so whether it’s retirement or they’re relocating or just looking for other opportunities.”
The ER was closed from Wednesday morning at 11:30 to Thursday at 8 a.m. It closed again later Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and will reopen Friday morning at 8. It will remain open until Sunday at 5 a.m., when it will close until Monday at 8 a.m.
According to numbers provided by Nova Scotia Health, temporary closures affected the Queens General emergency department for 13 days in November, 15 in December, and 10 so far in January. Those were usually closures for part of the day, but some were full-day closures.
Davis said nurses are a key component to keeping the ER open. Queens General needs to hire 10 more in its emergency department alone. She didn’t know how many more doctors are needed.
“We have a significant vacancy rate there. We do add folks and we’ve got people who are leaving at the same time, so the bottom line is we need to continue to put our efforts toward recruitment and that’s our highest priority right now.”
Davis said ER schedules are planned at least four to eight weeks in advance, but they’re addressed on a daily basis.
“We certainly don’t plan to be closed. We plan to be open. And our goal is to provide as much reliability consistency as we possibly can to the community. So we’re striving to fill those shifts every day. Our goal is to be open seven days a week.”
People who need emergency care can go to the ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater, or call 911.
Patients of Queens Family Health can also access the same-day clinic for certain conditions by calling 902-354-3322.
The Mental Health and Addictions crisis line is available 24 hours a day at 1-888-429-8167.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed for certain hours this week. (Rick Conrad photo)
By Rick Conrad
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed for the second time this week.
Nova Scotia Health sent out a news release at noon on Wednesday. They gave no reason for the temporary closures.
The ER closed Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. and will reopen Thursday at 8 a.m. It will close again later Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and reopen Friday at 8 a.m. It will remain open until Sunday at 5 a.m., when it will close until Monday at 8 a.m.
According to numbers provided by Nova Scotia Health, temporary closures affected the Queens General emergency department for 13 days in November, 15 in December, and nine so far in January. Those were usually closures for part of the day, but some were full-day closures.
The emergency department at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater remains open.
Nova Scotia Health is telling patients to call 911 if they have a medical emergency. Patients of Queens Family Health can also access the same-day clinic for certain conditions by calling 902-354-3322.
The Mental Health and Addictions crisis line is available 24 hours a day at 1-888-429-8167.
The emergency department at the Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed for parts of next Monday and Tuesday.
The ER will close Jan. 15 at 1:30 p.m. and reopen Jan. 16 at 8 a.m. It will close again at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 16 and reopen Wed., Jan. 17 at 8 a.m.
Nova Scotia Health gave no reason for the temporary closure.
The government’s annual emergency department accountability report, released in December, showed that the emergency department at Queens General was closed for about 50 per cent of the time in the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. It was closed for a total of 4,374.5 hours and open for 4,385.5 hours.
The Queens General Hospital has added staff in the past year to help keep the department open more often.
Residents of Queens will have the chance to bring their healthcare concerns to those directly responsible when the department of Health and Wellness listening tour stops at the Best Western in Liverpool this month.
Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson, Deputy Minister Jeannine Lagassé and Nova Scotia Health interim CEO Karen Oldfield are holding conversations in communities across Nova Scotia about the work underway to improve the healthcare system.
In a release announcing the events the department of health and wellness says participants will be able to ask questions and hear directly from those responsible for making change happen.
The health department issued a release Tuesday announcing the Emergency Department at Queens General Hospital will be closed for most of the week leading up to the event.
The ED will close Tuesday and Wednesday night, February 7 and 8. It will close again for the weekend beginning Friday at 1:30pm reopening Sunday morning at 8am then closing again at 1:30pm Sunday until 8am Monday morning.
The department will close again Tuesday afternoon until the morning of Wednesday the 15th.
Anyone wishing to attend the community engagement session will need to register in advance.
Those who can’t be there in person can forward questions that will be discussed at the event by submitting them through the online registration link.
The listening tour will be held at the Best Western in Liverpool on Friday February 17 from 1:00 until 3:00pm.
The Government of Nova Scotia announced several initiatives to reduce wait times and improve emergency care at hospitals across the province.
At a press conference Monday, Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson said the initiative focuses on two areas: improving emergency room care and safety and moving lower acuity patients away from the emergency room to appropriate health providers.
Several actions announced to get patients in most urgent need faster care include:
— having teams led by doctors focus on getting patients out of ambulances and into the emergency department faster
— assigning physician assistants and nurse practitioners to provide care in emergency departments
— adding care providers and patient advocates to support patients in waiting rooms
— making virtual care available to more patients with less urgent needs
— providing healthcare teams with real-time data on where beds are available across the system and what tests or other actions are needed to get patients well and home more quickly; this will free up beds for others.
Health officials are aiming to redirect patients with less severe or immediate health concerns away from emergency departments.
The actions being taken to give people more places to receive care, reducing pressure on emergency care, include:
–support for new and existing collaborative family medicine practices so they can see more patients
— expanding services in more pharmacies
— adding hours for virtual care appointments and enabling out-of-province doctors who are licensed here to offer virtual care
— providing more mobile primary care, mobile respiratory care clinics and urgent treatment centres
— making available a new phone app, known as a digital front door, that will help people find the right services for their needs and where they’re offered.
Some of those actions such as adding care providers and patient advocates to patient waiting rooms will be implemented almost immediately while others will be phased in as resources and capacity become available.
While the new actions include many new supports for patients and caregivers there was little talk about how to keep healthcare workers from leaving those jobs.
Minister Thompson says the newly announced initiatives will make for a better work environment and her department is still listening to front-line workers.
“Nova Scotia Health has also started stay interviews about what are the things that support people in staying and we do hear suggestions directly from frontline workers about different initiatives that would help them stay,” said Thompson. “So those are the things that are undertaken, again, we know there’s more to do and we are committed to working with health care providers to support their environment.”
The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) represents many of the people working in healthcare in the province.
In a statement issued after the announcement the union’ 1st Vice President Hugh Gillis says one of the key issues members have outlined is the inability to retain skilled, experienced nursing staff in the ED.
“Today’s announcement does not address that concern,” said Gillis, “The employer must provide incentives that will allow them to effectively keep experienced health care professionals in areas of high turnover and specialized need, such as the emergency department.”
Government officials say they are open to any good ideas that will improve healthcare for Nova Scotians and will continue to listen.
Despite the struggles facing emergency departments across the province, Minister Thompson says if people are in immediate need of medical attention they should go and get the treatment they need.
