The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance says a late night emergency department closure in Huron East this week was a bit of an anomaly.
The Seaforth Community Hospital was forced to close around 11 p.m. on Tuesday due to a sudden staffing shortage.
Lynanne Mason, Chief Nursing Executive for HPHA, says they do their best to plan ahead for when closures will be needed but in the smaller community hospitals, sometimes staffing emergencies can develop at the last minute.
"We had a well-staffed emergency department and what happened was with last-minute leave and then also patient conditions," she said. "So if one of our nurses has to go to another site with patient to get a higher level of care, that puts us in situations where we really don't have other staff to draw from."
Mason says the upcoming long weekend isn't overly concerning for staffing levels at their hospitals, because the entire summer will put a stress on resources.
"It's hard to say this weekend for sure is a potential (risk), I'd say more the whole entire summer is a risk that we're looking at and doing focus planning on," she said. "Not just nursing, it's all resources, physicians, other resources this summer, which is very new for us."
However, she said a recent decision by the Ontario government to extend the COVID-19 Temporary Summer Locum Program helped remove one stressor on their ability to staff emergency departments.
