Ontario Emergency Department Closures Becoming All Too Common, says ONA

TORONTO, ON, October 7, 2022 – The Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) urges people in communities across the province to demand action from their local MPPs as closures of hospital emergency departments become all too common.

ONA’s call comes following the most recent announcement of an Ontario ER – the Chesley site of South Bruce Grey Health Centre – announced it is closing from today until December 2 due to a shortage of nurses.

ONA President Cathryn Hoy, RN, asks what Premier Ford “recommends that families do to access emergency care? A record number of Ontarians have no primary care provider, Ford’s policies have worsened an already-severe nursing shortage, and the dropping of pandemic protections has the province in yet another serious wave of COVID-19 infections, just as flu and cold season arrives. The Premier knows what to do to help prevent ER closures and has failed to act. Instead, this crisis is being used to justify privatization of the health-care system.”

ONA believes that announcements of ER closures are becoming all too common and says they must not be accepted so casually by the government.

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, industry and clinics.

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