Emergency Department physicians extend deadline

NEWS RELEASES

EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT PHYSICIANS

SAULT AREA HOSPITAL

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March 6, 2008 - Emergency Department physicians at the Sault Area Hospital submitted their 60-day notice to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to withdraw from the Emergency Department alternative funding agreement on February 1, because of gaps in specialty coverage and poor patient care.

During the past month, the hospital board and administration, along with the senior medical staff and local politicians have advocated and insisted on changes and improvement in care of patients in this community.

Several innovative solutions have been suggested and developed.

The Minister of Health and Long Term Care and his office have been very cooperative and are working on solutions for specialty coverage in SAH’s Emergency Department.

Although significant steps have been taken, there are still several areas of specialist coverage that need to be addressed.

There are also details that need to be clarified and worked through.

We understand that such changes cannot come through in short notice; therefore, we have agreed to postpone our deadline to withdraw from the Emergency Department alternate funding agreement to May 31, 2008.

We will start working on filling the April Emergency Department physician schedule immediately.

According to Dr. Ehsan Mohammadi, SAH’s Emergency Department head, “During the next few weeks we hope to develop care plans for managing patients with serious conditions, ensuring appropriate and timely specialist assessment and follow-up.”

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March 6, 2008 - Sault Area Hospital Emergency Physicians met earlier today to discuss progress on ensuring adequate specialty medical coverage to support patient care needs at the hospital.

Based on the significant progress to-date, the Emergency Physicians have agree to extend their deadline by an additional 60 days to May 31, 2008, to allow for work on further required solutions currently underway to be completed, and for those solutions to be put into effect.

There are several solutions that have been approved, notably:

- Working with University Health Network and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to implement a plan for internal medicine physician resources at SAH.

Work is underway on several other solutions, such as:

- Improving access to heath care resources in Michigan, as required

- Developing a plan for regular access and the ability to refer to other sub-specialists in urgent situations.

SAH would like to thank its Emergency Department Physicians and the Medical Director for the Emergency Department, Dr. Ehsan Mohammadi, for their dedication and commitment to our patients.

SAH would also like to extend its thanks to our local MPP, David Orazietti, and Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care staff for their support and hard work.

We recognize the significant progress made to date and are committed to continue to work with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the North East Local Health Integration Network and our local physicians to make sure the remaining work on sustainable solutions is completed.

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