Hull Hospital surgeries cancelled during nursing shortage

A shortage of nurses has forced the cancellation of some surgeries at the Hull Hospital, and will force some patients to travel to out-oftown hospitals.

The hospital has six vacancies on its nursing staff, other nurses are on sick leave or parental leave, and those who are working have been run ragged trying to keep up, said hospital spokeswoman Geneviève Côté.

“We can’t keep asking them to work overtime,” she said. “They are going to be worn out.”

The short-term solution is that for the next two weeks, two of the five operating rooms will be shut down, she said. The Hull Hospital will have one operating room

We can’t keep asking them to work overtime. They are going to be worn out.

for emergencies, and two for the highest-priority cases.

But some patients — Côté said Sunday the number is uncertain — will be sent to hospitals in Gatineau, Buckingham, Shawville and Maniwaki.

Hull has five surgical nurses in training, but they won’t be fully ready until various dates between December and next May, she said.

As well, the Hull Hospital wants some of the other nearby hospitals to invest in new equipment that will allow them to do a wider range of surgery and allow them to take more patients in the long term.

“We are going to make this investment. We’re not talking about millions of dollars; it will be in the thousands of dollars,” she said.

While the Gatineau Hospital’s staffing problems are not as severe as those at the Hull Hospital, “they are still fragile,” Côté said.

She said fixing the problem “will not take one big solution. It is going to be several smaller solutions.”

In March, the Hull Hospital had to cancel some surgeries and outpatient appointments after a contractor broke a water pipe and flooded the floors below.