Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne
The mayor of Sussex says he was disappointed to hear of the decision to cut overnight emergency room services in his community.
On Tuesday, the province’s regional health authorities announced ERs in Sussex, Sackville, Sainte-Anne-de-Kent, Perth-Andover, Grand Falls and Caraquet will be closed between midnight and 8 a.m.
The move is intended to help address a severe shortage of medical professionals in the province.
Marc Thorne said he understands the health system is under stress, but he does not think these changes will be helpful.
“I don’t think it’s a question of if something terrible will happen, I think it’s a question of when,” said Thorne shortly after Tuesday’s announcement.
Thorne said the closest ERs are in Saint John or Moncton, and those will take residents an hour to get to.
He said these changes will also impact ambulance services by creating more of a demand in certain areas for emergency care.
“When you have to commit more of your resources to transporting people from our region to the Saint John region when that’s necessary, that’s going to create more stress within the region that that ambulance was intended to cover,” said Thorne.
Each of the six hospitals which are losing overnight emergency room service will receive a nurse practitioner.
Throne said bringing in a nurse practitioner will help during the day, but not at night.
“A nurse practitioner is not a trade-off for the closure of emergency services between midnight and 8 a.m.,” he said.
The overnight closures will take effect starting March 11.
