Shortage of doctors, nurses reaches crisis

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

Women expecting to give birth in the coming weeks or patients awaiting surgery are being encouraged by High Prairie doctors to look for another place to have their baby. Dr. Laughlin told the High Prairie Community Health Council Physician Retention Committee Oct. 18 that there is a ‘critical’ shortage of physicians and nurses at the High Prairie Hospital. “It’s a not a problem, it’s a crisis,” says Dr Laughlin in a news release issued by CHC chair Nona Elliott. Dr. Laughlin adds that surgeries in High Prairie are immediately discontinued and would probably not resume until the first week of November, at the earliest. Dr. Laughlin says more information will be available once the situation changes. The current reduction in operating room service is because of temporary staff illness. The staff shortage has caused the hospital to reduce service from 25 beds to 12 beds. However, five beds are filled with long-term care patients awaiting placement to continuing care. That reduces available beds to only seven. Elliott says seven beds is not acceptable to serve the town’s regional population of 24,000. Patients requiring booked surgeries will now be scheduled for a later date. Other patients requiring surgeries may be sent to Grande Prairie or Edmonton at a greater expense to the system. Those cities are two and four hours away respectively by ground ambulance. “This places an added burden on their hospitals,” says Dr. Laughlin. PCH has recruited a number of foreign registered nurses, who are expected to arrive in Canada in the coming months. A number of the first arrivals will be placed in High Prairie. The news only gets worse. A shortage of lab staff may also see temporary reduction in lab services at the hospital in coming weeks. “We need help from both Peace Country Health as well as the Government of Alberta,” says Elliott. “Communities across Canada are facing this problem. High Prairie has hit the wall now.” The Alberta government also has more stringent guidelines for doctors wanting to come to the province. As a result, some doctors decide to go to other provinces to set up practice. Dr. Laughlin says that was the case for two physicians recently recruited from South Africa by Peace Country Health.

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