TORONTO — An Ontario nurses’ union warned Friday of “troubling reports” from members about the expected closure of beds and units in “at least” 14 hospitals ahead of the long weekend as the health system struggles with a staff shortage.
“We are outraged and alarmed about the growing impact the nursing shortage is having on patient care,” Ontario Nurses’ Association president Cathryn Hoy said in a written statement.
The statement did not specify which hospitals or units could be affected.
Hoy said members of her union are dealing with illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, workplace violence, exhaustion and COVID-19 risk during a seventh wave of infections with few public health measures in place to mitigate spread.
She called on the government to meet with health-care unions to discuss solutions.
“We cannot wait any longer to resolve this crisis that is harming Ontarians and their access to health care,” Hoy said.
The reports of expected unit closures followed weeks of similar issues across the province as the health-care system contends with staffing-related strain.
Lakeridge Health said it was temporarily closing the critical care unit at its Bowmanville Hospital east of Toronto.
The hospital organization, which runs five hospitals in the Durham Region, said staff from its Bowmanville facility will be consolidated at critical care sites at its Ajax Pickering and Oshawa hospitals.
It didn’t set a timeline for the closure but said critical care would return to Bowmanville Hospital as soon as staffing stabilizes at the facility.
The Seaforth Community Hospital in Ontario’s Huron County also announced it would temporarily close its emergency room overnight because it’s running short-staffed.
A spokesman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones declined an interview request from The Canadian Press on Friday.
Jones has rarely spoken to the media since she was sworn in to the health minister role last month. Critics have been calling for her to take on a more public leadership role in discussing the crisis in province’s hospitals and the government’s planned response to it.
Those calls were repeated by the Opposition New Democrats on Friday amid news of the Ontario Nurses’ Association’s estimated closures.
“Where is Ontario’s Health Minister Sylvia Jones?” health critic France Gelinas said in a written statement.
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