Review of changes at Montague ER taking longer than expected

The review of the Kings County Memorial Hospital emergency room will take longer than expected, Health PEI says.

In July, the agency brought in new practices at the ER in Montague to prevent the department's closure after a series of disruptions to service.

Those included changing the hours from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and changing the hours for doctors from 14-hour shifts to two doctors working eight-hour shifts, aiming to make it easier to find backfill.

There were also changes to admitting where doctors — in consultation with other staff — would determine whether lower-risk patients would be accepted into the emergency room if there were high numbers of people waiting. More hours were also added at the health-care centre in Montague. 

More time needed

A review of all those changes was expected after the summer, and though Health PEI said a preliminary review of the changes was carried out, more time is needed to do the full review. 

The agency said the time of year, physician and staff vacation, a locum family physician covering a maternity leave and efforts to hire a full-time dedicated emergency department physician contributed to the delay.

"It was concluded that a longer evaluation period was needed in order to more thoroughly assess the impact of the changes made to emergency and primary care before a decision can be made on how best to move forward," an email from Health PEI said. 

The evaluation period for the review was extended to the fiscal year end, March 31 in order to get a better understanding. The review is expected to be released in the coming weeks. 

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