Nova Scotia emergency department closures up from last year: report
Posted Dec 22, 2017 09:59:51 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotia emergency rooms were closed more often over the last fiscal year, according to a report from the province.
The numbers include both scheduled and temporary closures and in total, the province's 38 emergency departments were closed for just over 25,000 hours from Apr. 1 2016 to Mar. 31 2017.
Scheduled closures are those that were already planned and temporary closures are those caused by unforseen staffing issues, like a lack of doctors or nurses.
Temporary closures across the province were up about 460 hours – or almost 20 full days. Scheduled closures went up about 2200 hours.
In a release, Nova Scotia's NDP say the closures have increased every year since the liberals formed government.
They also note that nearly half of the closures happened in Cape Breton.
