The president of Doctors Manitoba – the organization representing doctors in the province – is concerned that closing ERs in Winnipeg could harm patient care.
In a letter to the Medical Post, a publication for Canada’s doctors, Dr. Barbara Kelleher states, “I am concerned that closing an Emergency Room, an Urgent Care Centre and three Intensive Care Units could harm patient care... For those Emergency Rooms, Urgent Care Centres and Intensive Care Units that will remain open, I am concerned that they may not be provided with the necessary resources such as additional physician coverage and inpatient beds to keep up with greater and more acute demand.”
On April 7, the province and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, announced plans to close Emergency Rooms at three Winnipeg hospitals – Seven Oaks, Concordia and Victoria Hospital – after a report commissioned by the previous NDP government recommended closing some community hospital emergency departments and turning them into Urgent Care Centres could reduce ER wait times.
Dr. David Peachey, a Nova Scotia-based health expert who co-authored the report, said other cities such as Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa have fewer emergency departments per capita yet have shorter wait times than Winnipeg.
Dr. Kelleher said doctors are already being asked to do more with less and to take on a heavier administrative burden.
“Failing to properly resource Emergency Rooms and Urgent Care Centres that remain open could have serious consequences for patients,” Kelleher wrote.
Kelleher also voiced concerns about “layoffs of frontline, Emergency Room, Urgent Care and ICU physicians”.
“I’m worried, too, that the changes could push family doctors, who are essentially primary care specialists, out of hospitals,” Kelleher added.
In a statement, the WRHA raised its own concerns about the accuracy of Dr. Kelleher’s comments in her letter to the Medical Post.
“Most importantly, we do not anticipate any significant reductions in emergency or critical care physician positions. We have indicated that those services will be consolidated to three sites (for Emergency and ICU) and two others for Urgent Care,” a spokesperson for the WRHA said.
The WRHA said it appreciates that anxiety is a natural reaction to such a large scale change, but it believes it is important to “keep the dialogue open between our partners, such as Doctors Manitoba, CPSM and other professional agencies, to discuss the coming changes and quash rumors before they begin.”
