Niagara At Large is posting the following media release it received this May 14 from Niagara Falls Liberal MPP Kim Craitor and St. Catharines Liberal MPP and Municpal Affairs Minister Jim Bradley, announcing plans to hire more nurses to improve service at the remaining hospital emergency rooms in Niagara.
Niagara residents, dressed in the garb of the Yellow Shirt Brigade, a citizens group fighting to save hospital services, gather to protest the closing of the emergency room at the Port Colborne hospital site last June. Photo by Doug Draper
The closing of emergency rooms at hospital sites in Port Colborne and Fort Erie this past year has been a subject of tremendous concern for many residents in the southern tier, and residents in other parts of Niagara continue to complain openly about overly long waiting periods for patients at other hospitals in the region.
Niagara At Large is posting the media release for your information and encourages you to visit our site at http://www.niagaraatlarge.com for other stories on this matter and to share your thoughts in the comment boxes below.
Media Release, May 14, 2010
Funding More ER Nurses Improves Access to Care in Niagara Ontario Government Reducing Time Paramedics Spend In Hospitals
Ontario is hiring more nurses in Niagara who will be dedicated to assisting patients who arrive in emergency rooms by ambulance.
Niagara area MPP’s Kim Craitor and Jim Bradley announced Ontario is providing $262,809 to the Niagara Region to hire nurses who will help reduce the time paramedics spend in Niagara area hospital ERs by providing care to non-priority patients who arrive by ambulance.
This allows paramedics to respond to other calls in the community rather than attending to patients in the ER. Municipalities that have hired dedicated ER nurses in the past have reported seeing significant reductions in offload delays.
Hiring more ER-dedicated nurses is a key part of the government’s Open Ontario Plan to provide more access to health care services while improving quality and accountability for patients.
QUOTES
“Having more nurses dedicated to ambulance patients allows our ambulances to return more quickly to the community and be available to respond to other emergency calls said Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor. “This funding initiative helps insures that our ambulances are where we need them, when we need them, without the requirement to overstaff our EMS or under service our communities”
“This investment will allow our Emergency Departments to ease the increasing pressures they are facing as EMS ambulances arrive at our hospitals,” said St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley. “Having dedicated nurses for patients in the Emergency Departments will further enhance the quality of care our healthcare professionals are delivering”.
St. Catharines Liberal MPP and Ontario cabinet minister Jim Bradley.
“Collectively, we remain committed to resolving the off-load delay issues facing Niagara,” stated Regional Chairman Peter Partington. “This funding is an example of one of the strategies towards achieving a systemic solution.”
“With this funding, we hope to achieve a reduction in off-load delays and improved patient flow, thereby freeing up ambulances to be on the road,” stated John Cunnane, Chief, Niagara Emergency Medical Services.
“Improving the flow of patients into and through our Emergency Departments is one of our hospital’s key priorities,” said NHS CEO and President Debbie Sevenpifer.
“By funding dedicated nurses in our EDs to receive ambulance patients, this investment will help us work hand in hand with Niagara Emergency Medical Services to meet patient needs in a more timely manner and free up paramedic crews to rapidly get them back into the community. We truly welcome and appreciate this investment.”
QUICK FACTS
§ The government, which introduced the ambulance offload nurse initiative in 2008/09, is providing a total of $9.6 million in funding to 16 municipalities this year.
§ Since 2003, the government has created more than 10,000 nursing positions and exceeded its goal of creating 900 nursing positions in 2009/2010. LEARN MORE Read about the government’s ER Wait Time Strategy.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Planche / Executive Assistant / Kim Craitor, MPP / 905-401-5699 / rplanche@liberal.ola.org Carrie Beatty BA / Communications Specialist / Niagara Region Public Health / phone: 905.688.8248 ext. 7303 / carrie.beatty@niagararegion.ca Christine Clark / Chief Communications Officer / Niagara Health System / 905-378-4647 ext. 43111 / cclark@niagarahealth.on.ca
Niagara At Large 
Sounds to me like nurses will be hired to act as babysitters while the poor patient will continue to wait an eternity for a bed. If they really want to improve patient care and ER waittimes, which costs them less money, I have a suggestion….open emergency departments in Fort Erie and Port Colborne.
LikeLike
While it is certainly a good idea to take action to prevent ambulances lining up outside the remaining Emergency Departments in the region waiting for patients to be off-loaded, I fail to see how closing more hospital beds is supposed to reduce wait times once patients have seen an emergency room physician.
Perhaps Peter Partingon, Kim Craitor, and Jim Bradley would care to comment on that little problem — preferably BEFORE the NHS goes ahead with its plans to close 39 more beds.
Why is it so difficult to understand that some patients are actually sick enough to require hospital admission? Or is the theory that everybody who turns up at an Emergency Room is suffering from nothing more serious than a cold? Heaven help the residents of Niagara when the next real pandemic hits.
LikeLike
First, where are these nurses coming from? Nurses have fled the province in droves due to the cutbacks, nursing schools have been closed and both the price of tuition and duration of nursing school training has increased at a time when this is very inadvisable, and a very high percentage of nurses currently employed (I can’t recall the exact percentage but it is VERY high) are due to retire in the next five years as their average age is increasing and fewer are entering the profession due to the terrible working conditions i.e. workload, shifts, workplace violence and so on. We have heard this song and dance before. In addition, as mentioned by Pat, they will be babysitters and will not shorten the wait time to see a doctor and there will still be no beds or rooms to house these people. They will just add to the dangerous and inhumane congestion in the halls.
LikeLike
We are grateful that one of the problems created by the Niagara Health System has been addressed. It may be a finger in the dike that is ready to explode but at least it is an acknowledgement of serious systemic issues.
Delays in Ambulance off-loads were created by the closure of medical beds , operating rooms and the closure of Emergency rooms leaving the three remaining Hospitals of Niagara coping with a gridlock.
Hiring extra staff will help the EMS but the root problem remains unsolved.
Where are you going to put the patients when you get them?
Before there is further implimentation of the Hospital “Improvement ” Plan take a look at the mess NHS has created and decide how much more chaos can our Health System stand.
Municipalities,politicians,medical groups and now the Ontario Health Coalition have demanded the NHS be investigated. Its time the voice of Niagara is heard.
LikeLike
To add insult to injury, the paper said these would not all be Registered Nurses but Registered Practical Nurses!!!! God Bless them, we need anyone who can help us in our present CRISIS,but my tax dollars pay for Doctors and Registered Nurses who have been trained extensively to deal with major health issues.Not a bandaid to rid the ambulance of its patient so he /she can go and pick up the next VICTIM to take them to be placed in the hands of people who are not trained to care for major problems.We are not progressing to Excellence, we are not even maintaining the health care we had…. WE ARE GOING BACKWARDS depending on people who are not qualified at the top and now where we need the help the most, it too has been taken away. As I’ve said before we are left with NOTHING as our tax dollars increase!! anne
LikeLike
When it is said nurses will be hired , is the term nurses referring to RPN’S (registered practical nurses ) or RN’S (registered nurses) I would hate to think that we again are being short changed by implying one & meaning the other. This again would dishonest. anne
LikeLike
This was also a concern that I had Anne so I made inquiries. I was assured that the (Niagara Falls) Review had it right. Practical nurses will do the job of monitoring some Emergency Department patients delivered by Ambulance.
As compared to Registered Nurses ,a Practical Nurse has four semesters of training at a Community college.
The additional funding from the Province is gratefully acknowledged. The fact that it is only to be used directly for patient care is a huge step forward. Now our trust must be that for once it will be used wisely.
LikeLike
Just another bandaid solution. It’s sad and very minimal.
LikeLike