The number of emergency room closures is up 2.5 per cent in Nova Scotia.
That’s according to the annual Accountability Report on Emergency Departments released by the province today.
Accountability Report on Emergency Departments Available https://t.co/FkXOkT6YQK
— Nova Scotia Gov. (@nsgov) December 21, 2016
The report details closures from April 1st, 2015 to March 31st of this year.
The province says unscheduled closures were down 23 per cent, but scheduled closures went up 11 per cent due to staffing challenges.
Health Minister Leo Glavine says they continue work to strengthen health care by creating collaborative health care teams that can address people’s needs before they need to visit the emergency room.
Argyle-Barrington MLA and Progressive Conservative Health-Critic Chris d’Entremont says it’s disappointing to see that the problem is not getting fixed.
“We’re working in the wrong direction, and that’s because the government really has no plan on fixing the problem we have in Nova Scotia. We can’t hang our hat on a program that was started by the NDP five or six years ago.’
Locally, closures have been a problem at Digby General Hospital and Roseway Hospital in Shelburne.
At Roseway, the emergency department was closed for 1,331 hours spread over 29 days.
In Digby, the department was shut-down for 194 hours over 15 days.
