KITCHENER, Ont. — The emergency room at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener will close its doors Sunday morning because the small number of emergency room doctors employed there are refusing to work.

The doctors have been involved in weeks of negotiation to discuss concerns of overwork, patient safety and compensation, but made it clear on Friday that they'd practise only at nearby St. Mary's General Hospital as of Oct. 1.


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Update: Kitchener hospital emergency room to stay open
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Kitchener hospital emergency room to stay open

Canadian Press

TORONTO — The emergency department at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener will stay open after all.

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman told The Canadian Press on Saturday night that provincial action combined with "contributions that came from efforts at each of the three area hospitals" helped prevent the emergency room closure.

Doors were to close Sunday morning after the small numbers of doctors in the department refused to work, citing concerns of overwork, patient safety and compensation.

Smitherman did not offer any details on how the doctor shortage would be dealt with, but said that "no enhanced compensation had been proposed" to persuade them to continue to work.

Smitherman said he was pleased the closure was averted but added that while things look promising, there is still "a lot of work to do" to resolve the issue.

The minister said his ministry will work with hospital health-care providers in the area "with a view towards trying to create a more stable situation."

He said a leadership team from St. Joseph's Hospital in Toronto will go to Kitchener on Monday to help the emergency department at Grand River Hospital find sustainable options to keep the doors of the emergency room open.

Emergency staff at Grand River would not comment on the announcement but the hospital's website noted services would be available and further information would be posted as it became available.

Ontario has recently been facing an emergency room crunch, with doctors complaining about the pay and some 20 hospitals across the province using a private company -- Med-Emerg International -- to manage their emergency wards or find doctors to keep them running.

Med-Emerg had been contacted to help provide emergency doctors at Grand River, but the company could not supply the needed doctors, putting added pressure on the Liberal government to find a solution.

Ontario Conservative leader John Tory, who visited the Grand River emergency department Saturday morning, said he was shocked and disappointed that the Liberal government had let the situation deteriorate.

"Dalton McGuinty's inaction is putting people's lives at risk," he said in a statement, "This kind of inaction is unacceptable."

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20061001/emergency_room_061001/20061001?hub=TorontoHome

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