A staffing shortage is being blamed for the temporary closure of the endoscopy program at the Drayton Valley Hospital.
Heather Barrett, the operations manager at the Malone Clinic, says she’s been told the program will be operational for three days in July, but then will remain closed.
“They didn’t give us the dates yet, and they will only be able to do 40 procedures,” says Barrett.
She says the hope is to reopen in September, but there is no confirmation. “They have advised us to send all of our urgent [patients] somewhere else.”
In an email from a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services, the Free Press was told that the closure is due to a lack of staff, which they are currently addressing. The staff who would normally be assigned to the endoscopy program will be “utilized to support other care areas in the hospital that have been experiencing staffing challenges.”
AHS says the staff are all cross-trained, so working in different departments won’t be an issue.
They also wanted to stress that the closure isn’t as bad as it seems. “It is important to note that during this temporary pause in service, only eight days of procedures have been impacted as endoscopy does not run 24/7 at the site.”
Barrett says a nursing shortage is the cause of the closure. “They didn’t give us a number [of nurses] all they said was that it was a 50 percent shortage.”
AHS says they are working toward replacing the staff at the hospital. Recruitment efforts continue at the site, as they have for the last several months. Job postings to fill the vacant positions are up and interviews are occurring as qualified RNs apply.
Barrett says there was a meeting at MLA Mark Smith’s office, and a recruitment officer for AHS was there. The officer explained that in the past they’d only ever posted part-time job offers, so they’ve always carried on that way.
It’s a bit of a struggle to get RNs in, says Barrett. Right now, AHS is only advertising for part-time positions because that’s all they are allowed to do. She says they are working to change that, but it is a bit of a process.
“Now, nurses that need to be attracted want a full-time position,” says Barrett. “They don’t want a part-time position.”
Barrett says when AHS has to make changes, it won’t be instant.
Right now, Barrett says they aren’t sure which dates in July will be open for procedures. She says the closure started at the beginning of June, and they were told to send their clients to other centres for the procedure.
In their email, AHS says the closure was done out of necessity.
“This is not a decision we made lightly. The decision to postpone has an impact on those waiting for endoscopy procedures; however, it is a necessary step to ensure the hospital can be able to respond to emergencies.”
