Staff shortage forces Lachine emergency room to close at night

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Lachine Hospital will close its emergency room overnight starting November 7 due to a critical shortage of nurses and respiratory therapists.

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The emergency room and intensive care unit will only be open between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The closure is for an indeterminate period because the hospital needs time to hire more staff. Currently, the hospital has only 30 percent of the inhalation therapists it needs, said Gilda Salomone, a MUHC spokesperson.

Outside of emergency room hours, ambulances will be redirected to other hospitals.

A doctor representing the hospital’s board of doctors said the decision to close the 14-bed emergency room is unacceptable.

“This is the worst possible and harmful way to proceed,” Paul Saba said in an interview.

Lachine Hospital serves a disadvantaged population, including many older people, who do not have a car to drive to another hospital downtown, he said.

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“Getting to Lakeshore or LaSalle (hospital) by public transportation is not easy,” he said.

Staffing problems have plagued the hospital since it became part of the MUHC in 2008, Saba said.

Many new hires receive training at Lachine, but then apply for jobs at Glen’s new facility in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce or other renovated downtown hospitals.

“They train them at Lachine and can offer them interesting jobs at a spectacular new UCI facility,” he said.

After learning of the decision last week, Saba wrote to Health Minister Christian Dubé, asking him to maintain emergency services at the hospital, which serves many Francophones on West Island, including off-island residents from so far away. like Vaudreuil-Dorion.

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“They can redirect staff to our hospital,” Saba suggested.

Surgeries and hospital admissions will continue and care will continue at the Camille-Lefebvre CHSLD.

“We would like to assure our staff and patients that this situation is temporary and that we are working hard to correct it as quickly as possible,” the MUHC said in a statement.

The Quebec government plans to spend $ 220 million to renovate and expand the community hospital starting next spring. Under the plan, a new pavilion will be built to house a new emergency room, intensive care unit and operating rooms. Work is scheduled to begin next spring and finish in 2026.

Having new facilities is likely to help the hospital retain staff, Saba said. But, until then, he worries it will get more personal.

“If you start cutting services, people will jump ship,” he said.

Several Montreal hospitals are facing staff shortages, forcing the Quebec government to offer financial incentives to persuade retired healthcare employees to return to work.

This story will be updated.

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