July 23, 2021 – Alberta Health Services has responded to the influx of temporary emergency department and ICU bed closures around the province in the summer months.
Deb Gordon, AHS Vice President and Chief Operating Officer says the closures are due to staff taking well deserved breaks. “The current bed closures that we have are primarily in the North Zone, these are our most challenging sites to staff. Historically there are sites more subject to disruption… it happens every year, especially in the summer to a greater or lesser extent.” Gordon says the changes to services are not new, but more common in summer season when staffing levels historically are a little bit lower.
“Resources are adjusted to align with staffing levels” says Gordon.
AHS assured the public nearly 99 per cent of over 8,500 acute care beds in the province are open as well as the over 1,200 emergency departments.
The one of two emergency department closures in the province as of July 22, 2021 is in Fort Vermillion at the St. Theresa General Hospital. The emergency department will be without on-site physician overnight from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day until July 31, 2021. The closest emergency department is 81 kilometres away in High Level.
As many as 20 hospitals and health facilities have reduced service in some capacity in the past six months, with most of them being in rural areas. The AHS North Zone currently has the most acute care bed closures, with 89 out of 944 beds in the area closed.
Gordon noted the pandemic has been another challenge this year for staff “many of them have been doing far more than their usual hours in the past 16 months; they need and deserve a break. They’re less able to work extra shifts than they would have been a year ago.”
-Erika Rolling, Trending 55 Newsroom
