


"With the recent closure of after-hour emergency surgical services at the Welland Hospital, South Niagara families are being disproportionately impacted." "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. 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. The Fort Erie and Port Colborne emergency departments closed in 2009. Around 10,000 people in Port Colborne don't have a family physician: NDP MPPĪ 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 urgent care centres will close from 10 p.m. 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. 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." "The current shortage of healthcare workers and gaps in primary care have caused strains on our healthcare system that are unsustainable.

"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. Catharines, president and CEO Lynn Guerriero wrote in a statement. 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. 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. 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.
