Patients will see longer wait times at the province’s emergency rooms this summer.
Public Health says these departments are experiencing more visits from patients since the third wave of the pandemic hit.
“Nova Scotia Health apologizes for increased wait times in emergency departments,” a news release says. “We recognize it’s been a long, hard year for many Nova Scotians, and we need to remember we are all in this together.”
Meantime, the president of Nova Scotia’s largest health-care union is calling on the provincial government to immediately act to address a staffing shortage at the Halifax Infirmary.
NSGEU President Jason MacLean calls the situation at the emergency room “dire.”
“It is a crisis: our emergency departments have reached a boiling point, and government needs to act now,” MacLean says in a news release.
He adds proper staffing levels would typically include 17 nurses and four paramedics, but those numbers have dropped to nine and two respectively.
MacLean says beds are routinely closed as a result. Staff have told the union 25 nurses left within the past two and a half months.
“Nova Scotia’s nurses were stretched thin before the pandemic. Now, they’re starting to break,” MacLean says.
He adds the staffing shortage means nurses and paramedics cannot take breaks or get vacation approved.
The overall emergency system is never closed due to access to EHS, telemedicine, and transfers to other facilities across the province.
However, some smaller sites experience temporary closures.
Anyone with non-urgent medical needs is advised to contact their family doctor or to visit a walk-in clinic.
