(Photo: Brad Perry)
Physicians in the Sussex area are defending the need to keep their emergency room open around the clock.
Several current and former doctors spoke during a rally at the Sussex Health Centre on Monday.
Sussex was one of six New Brunswick communities which would have seen their emergency rooms closed between midnight and 8 a.m. starting March 11.
But after days of backlash following last Tuesday’s announcement, Premier Blaine Higgs announced late Sunday he would cancel the changes until consultations could be done.
Dr. Steve Allaby told the crowd the thought of losing overnight ER coverage in the town worried him.
“I was fearful. Fearful for you, fearful that this decision was being made for all the wrong reasons with no actual good outcomes but lots of risks for no good reason,” said Allaby.
In its decision to close the emergency rooms, the Horizon and Vitalité health networks said they only saw an average of around five patients per night.
But Dr. David MacMillan said that only includes people who actually register between the hours of midnight and 8 a.m.
“I came in here [Sunday] night at 10 o’clock and there were 13 people who had registered before 10 o’clock still waiting to be seen,” said MacMillan.
With the government now set to hold consultations this spring, MacMillan said they hope to convince the government it is appropriate to keep all rural facilities open.
Meanwhile, Allaby said there is no doubt solutions are needed to the province’s health-care crisis.
“The way to solve that is not to displace nurses from one area to another [by closing ERs], we need to find a solution to our nursing crisis, but this isn’t it,” he said.
Allaby said closing the community’s ER overnight would affect health-care recruitment in the town.
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