The South Bruce Grey Health Centre (SBGHC) and the Huron-Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) are speaking to anyone who will listen as they attempt to get Emergency Departments in Chesley and in Clinton, back to 24/7 operations.
Today (FRI May7) they will be meeting with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) to discuss their sustainability proposal.
President & CEO of SBGHC Mike Barrett says they are committed to getting the Emergency Department in Chesley back to 24-hours a day.
They had to cutback to a 12-hour opeeration, 8am to 8pm, because of the lack of personnel.
Barrett says Ontario Ministry of Health officials have had the joint plan since February this year.
The proposal is a number of different initiatives that will help get the nursing pool stabilized so they can have experienced nurses on duty every hour of the day in the Emergency Departments.
As an example, one of the initiatives is a New Nurse Grad program.
Barrett says they want to have some incentives provided to SBGHC that would allow them to train the new nurses and mentor them.
He says, “Every time you bring in a new nurse in a small Emergency Department, there’s not a lot of staff and you need to make sure they have the training and expertise to respond to whatever comes in that front door of the Emergency Department.”
Barrett indicated to the regular SBGHC Board of Directors meeting on May 5th that they will be scheduling a community information session for Chesley residents in the near future.
