Fort Erie, Port Colborne urgent care centres closing overnight permanently

Urgent care centres in the southern Ontario communities of Port Colborne and Fort Erie will no longer operate overnight as Niagara Health faces physician shortages, the hospital network announced Wednesday.

The decision comes one day before the ER in Minden, Ont., is set to close permanently due to staff shortages, with Haliburton Highlands Health Services transferring all emergency services to its Haliburton site, about 25 kilometres away.

Niagara Health is reducing urgent care hours in Port Colborne and Fort Erie in order to keep the network's three emergency departments operating in Welland, Niagara Falls and St. Catharines, president and CEO Lynn Guerriero wrote in a statement.

"After looking at all our options, reducing late night and early morning coverage in the Fort Erie and Port Colborne UCCs was deemed the absolute least disruptive way to address the challenges we are facing," she said.

"The current shortage of healthcare workers and gaps in primary care have caused strains on our healthcare system that are unsustainable. In the weeks and months ahead, I will continue working to build our clinical capacity, while advocating for our healthcare needs on behalf of the residents and healthcare workers of Niagara Region."

Niagara Health's emergency department physician group had warned that in the coming months the ERs would have been short 274 physician shifts, Guerriero said.

The urgent care centres will close from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. daily beginning July 5.

Around 10,000 people in Port Colborne don't have a family physician:NDP MPP

A spokesperson said the decision is considered permanent at this time, as Niagara Health doesn't believe the staff shortages will be resolved any time soon.

The Fort Erie and Port Colborne emergency departments closed in 2009.

Jeff Burch, who represents Niagara Centre for the NDP in the legislature, said he is "extremely concerned and disappointed" by the overnight urgent care closures.

"Around 10,000 people in Port Colborne are without a family physician, and folks that rely on the Port Colborne and Fort Erie Urgent Care Centres will now need to travel to other facilities in Niagara, which often already operate above 100 per cent capacity," he said in a statement.

"With the recent closure of after-hour emergency surgical services at the Welland Hospital, South Niagara families are being disproportionately impacted."

Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates said"That's yet another community losing access to vital 24/7 local care because of the Conservatives' health care staffing crisis. Ford needs to step in and provide the needed resources to keep the Fort Erie Urgent Care Centre open 24/7, to keep the burden off our overworked and understaffed ERs."

A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones touted government programs to bolster health-care staffing, such as covering the cost of nursing school tuition in exchange for working in the region individuals study in, automatically letting health-care workers from other provinces practise in Ontario and removing regulatory barriers for internationally educated nurses.

"As always, our government will continue to work with any hospital who wants to utilize any of these programs," Hannah Jensen wrote in a statement.

"We have received assurances from Niagara Health that they have consistently promoted alternatives to (emergency department) presentation through the 'Know Your Options' campaign. As such the communities are familiar with what types of clinical needs are appropriately cared for at the UCC as well as the closest ED alternative."