Courtesy: AHS
The Peace River Community Health Centre continues to experience temporary staff shortage and Alberta Health Services has made the decision to extend the temporary closure of 11 of the 31 acute care inpatient beds to March 31, 2023.
Twenty inpatient beds, as well as the two specialty beds for cardiac and stroke monitoring, and a palliative care bed will remain open. Maternity patients will continue to be admitted without disruption.
This decision does not impact any emergency or obstetrical services. Beds may re-open earlier if staffing levels permit. This is a temporary measure to ensure safe and high-quality care for patients, and a quality work environment for staff. AHS continues to look for solutions to address staffing needs. The safety of our patients and staff is at the heart of every decision we make. Patients will continue to receive high quality, safe care. All other services at the facility are not impacted. Temporarily reducing the number of inpatient beds at a health care facility when staffing levels are low is common practice and ensures that we can continue to provide safe, quality care, for those requiring health services including acute inpatients, emergency, and obstetrics patients.
AHS is always working to address staffing needs and ensure appropriate access to health services. Recruitment efforts continue as AHS works to ensure access to local health care
services.
AHS continues to recruit to vacant positions and ensure an effective orientation process. This temporary measure will assist the team to successfully orientate any new staff members to their positions.
We will continue to update the community about recruitment efforts and thank the community for their understanding during this time.
Keith Hopper, Trending 55
