The president and CEO of South Bruce Grey Health Centre assures there are no plans to close the Durham Hospital.
The hospital organization announced Wednesday all 10 of the inpatient beds at Durham would be relocated to the Kincardine and Walkerton hospitals by June 3.
Nancy Shaw says in an interview with Bayshore Broadcasting News South Bruce Grey Health Centre is committed to “providing access to care in all four of our communities.” The hospital corporation operates facilities in Durham, Walkerton, Kincardine and Chesley.
“Due to ongoing staff shortages at the Durham site, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to transition the beds in order to continue to support safe, high quality delivery of patient care,” Shaw explains.
She says the emergency room at the Durham Hospital will remain open. There are also diagnostic imaging, lab and allied health support services still available in Durham to support the emergency room.
“Staffing will remain available at the emergency room, but some staff will be transitioned as well to support the transition of beds,” Shaw says.
The decision to relocate beds from the Durham Hospital is the latest service delivery change made by South Bruce Grey Health Centre as it contends with a long-term shortage of registered nurses on staff.
The Chesley Hospital emergency room hasn’t had overnight service since 2019. And 24/7 service at the Durham Hospital emergency room was just cut this spring, and is now operating on a daytime schedule from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“This has been a challenge across the province. But South Bruce Grey Health Centre is unique in the fact we’ve had several sites challenged in staffing shortages, for over five years,” Shaw explains. “This has been an ongoing challenge for the organization. That is why we need to look at what we’re doing, and how we can potentially do things differently.”
Asked about the number of nursing vacancies and the number of hires South Bruce Grey Health Centre would need to consider reinstating 24/7 emergency room service at the Chesley and Durham sites, Shaw says there’s no “magic number” and when looking at staffing you also need enough to support vacancies that arise from sick calls, vacation time and other absences.
“I will say there are a significant number of staff that are required, specifically registered nurses,” Shaw says.
There are currently several job postings for full-time registered nursing positions within South Bruce Grey Health Centre.
Shaw also commented on questions about what she thinks is contributing to the nursing staff shortage — is it an issue of nurses not wanting to relocate to the area? Is it money?
“I think it’s multi-factorial in our specific case,” she says. “There’s certainly specific challenges to recruitment in rural areas. But I don’t think is as easy as pinpointing to one specific factor. I think there are many factors. And looking at how we can stabilize staffing across our sites is extremely important to South Bruce Grey as we move forward.”
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Progressive Conservative MPP Rick Byers acknowledges he was briefed by Shaw about the changes South Bruce Grey Health Centre is planning to make at the Durham Hospital.
“The goal here is to provide stability,” Byers says.
He also commented on the longer-term staffing challenges that have been affecting South Bruce Grey Health Centre.
“I look at this, and I’ve said this to Nancy too, I look over at (Brightshores Health System’s) six hospitals, including many up in rural and much smaller areas and they’ve had no closures. Hanover’s been open,” Byers says. “So, I’m encouraging her and the organization to work with other hospital corporations to see if there’s ways to work together to provide the comprehensive care that the residents need.”
“I will support them in that effort and do whatever I can to help out,” the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP adds.
Shaw couldn’t say if the inpatient beds being moved to the Kincardine and Walkerton sites would potentially be added back at the Durham Hospital in the future.
“That’s very difficult to predict at this time, related to the significant number of staffing shortages we have at Durham,” the South Bruce Grey Health Centre president and CEO says. “It is for an indefinite period of time.”
“And that will also allow us to go out to the community and engage, have dialogue around this process and hear from the community in the coming months,” Shaw continues. “And have some discussion around what the Durham site can offer, and what opportunities can be explored.”
South Bruce Grey Health Centre is planning to host several community engagement sessions within the next few months to allow people to engage with hospital administration about the changes at the Durham Hospital. Shaw says the dates and locations of those “town halls” will be provided once they’ve been confirmed.