TORONTO – The Ontario Health Coalition has just released a new report that shows the frequency and severity of hospital closures in this province is “unprecedented, and it’s getting worse.”
The OHC took their message to Doug Ford on Tuesday, Dec. 5, with a press conference at Queen’s Park. Among those present were representatives from the local area.
Those at the press conference were Natalie Mehra, executive director of the OHC; Brenda Scott, Chesley Hospital Community Support committee; Paul Stimson, a Hanover resident who uses the Chesley hospital; Maarten Bokhout, retired physician and Clinton resident; Heather Kelly, resident of Fort Erie; Bonnie Roe, resident of Minden; Sue Hotte, resident of Niagara; Lisa Howard, resident of Arnprior; and Dot Klein, retired RN and resident of Sudbury.
As stated in a press release, the duration of closures is getting longer, and affecting multiple communities at the same time. Public notice is often last-minute. “Rural communities across mid-Ontario and the south are particularly hard hit, but we are also seeing closures of vital services in the largest cities of the province. Emergency departments in particular are being repeatedly closed down in the daytime, overnight, on weekends, or for days to weeks. The rates of closure are staggering.”
The report’s summary stated, “In Ontario, vital hospital services, such as emergency departments, maternity and obstetrics, outpatient laboratories and intensive care units, have been subject to repeated closures in the last three years.”
The report went on to state that in 2023, the OHC recorded 868 temporary (one permanent) emergency department closures, 316 urgent care centre closures, 11 obstetrics unit closures, one ICU closure and one long-term closure of a labour and delivery unit – in total, 1,199 closures of vital health services from Jan. 1-Nov. 24, 2023.
This area was mentioned specifically and repeatedly in the report: “The town of Durham in Western Ontario (as distinct from the region of Durham in the Greater Toronto Area) has had at least 51 emergency department closures in 2023 to date. Seaforth has had 17 temporary emergency department closures this year, Walkerton has had 20, and Wingham has had 31… In the counties of midwestern Ontario – Perth, Huron, Wellington, Dufferin, Bruce and Grey – we are seeing multiple hospital emergency departments closed at the same time. Some emergency departments are closing with little to no notice, such as the extension of the Chesley emergency department’s weekend closure from Nov. 17-20 which was announced at 6:45 a.m. on the day the closure began.”
