Updated: Patients with non-life-threatening medical needs asked not to come to The Moncton Hospital and Saint John Regional Hospital Emergency Departments this weekend

HORIZON – Emergency Departments at Horizon’s The Moncton Hospital (TMH) and Saint John Regional Hospital (SJRH) are experiencing critical shortages of nursing staff this weekend, beginning today, Friday, Aug. 26 through and including Sunday, Aug. 28.

During this time, we are asking patients with non-life-threatening medical needs not to come to the TMH or SJRH EDs as we do not have capacity to triage and care for these patients.

This request of these communities is being made to ensure the TMH and SJRH ED teams can continue to provide safe and high-quality care to those who are seriously ill.

TMH is the province’s Level 2 designated trauma centre and SJRH is the province’s Level 1 designated trauma centre. These facilities must reserve their resources to care for the individuals who present with critical medical needs, including those who have experienced serious injuries, heart attacks, strokes and difficulty breathing. We will provide care for individuals with limb- or life-threatening medical needs.

“We recognize the seriousness of this situation and the difficulties it may bring to Moncton and Saint John area residents, as well as to our staff and physicians,” said Margaret Melanson, Horizon’s interim President and CEO. “We are providing on-site support to our staff and physicians who will be providing care to patients with critical injuries or illnesses over the weekend and are thankful for their dedication to their patients.”

Like health authorities across the country, Horizon continues to face immense pressures related to staffing shortages. We continue to look at all options to prioritize the delivery of safe and quality care for patients while creating a safe and quality work environment for our staff and physicians.

We work closely with Vitalité Health Network to ensure emergency services are available for the entire population. These challenges are common to both health authorities and that is why we ask everyone in the Moncton and Saint John areas to help us preserve care for those who need it most and only come to the ED if your health concern is critical.

Patients with non-urgent medical needs should visit sowhywait.ca for other health care options,  evisitnb.ca for information about virtual care, or a community hospital ED, such as:

• Horizon’s Sackville Memorial Hospital (40 minutes, from TMH), open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; or
• Horizon’s Sussex Health Centre (50 minutes from each TMH and SJRH), open 24/7*; or
• Horizon’s St. Joseph’s Hospital Urgent Care Centre (10 minutes from SJRH), open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

*Due to an unexpected shortage of available staff, the Emergency Department at Horizon’s Sussex Health Centre (SHC) will close early this evening, Friday, Aug. 26. The SHC ED will stop seeing patients at 5:30 p.m. After 5:30 p.m. all patients will need to seek treatment at another hospital. Regular 24/7 ED hours will resume on Saturday, Aug. 27 at 7:30 a.m.

Both health networks are working diligently to return to normal operations, and we thank the community for their understanding.

– 30 –