Bluewater Health is reassuring residents there are no plans to temporarily close the emergency departments in Sarnia or Petrolia.
Over the Civic Holiday weekend, over a dozen smaller hospitals across Ontario were forced to close their ERs due to staffing shortages.
Vice President of Integrated Services at Bluewater Health Paula Reaume-Zimmer said they're experiencing many of the similar challenges that other hospitals across the province have seen recently, and ER staffing is tight.
"We are dealing with sick time, and certainly trying very hard to create space for our staff to have the vacation that they need so that they can come back rested, and accommodating for all of that has made it challenging to cover on a daily basis," said Reaume-Zimmer. "Although, we have been fortunate to be able to adjust staffing to make sure we're meeting the demands, but it's definitely been tight."
She said on top of staffing issues, the emergency department is busier than normal.
"Our volumes have increased pretty steadily since January," said Reaume-Zimmer. "In fact, our volumes have increased 41 per cent since January. From January to June we have seen 41 per cent more patients on a daily average, and that's in both Sarnia and at the Petrolia site."
Zimmer said despite the challenges they're facing with staffing and increased volume, wait times at the emergency department are well below the provincial average of 20 hours.
"The emergency department, for individuals who are admitted, the average length of stay was 8.5 hours," she said. "So that's been holding its own, it's not changed very much. Our provincial average is 20 hours, so Bluewater Health is managing well."
He stressed the problem is happening right across the country, and pushed for the federal government to increase healthcare funding.
