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General Questions Frequently Asked Questions General Questions Q. What services are changing at my hospital? A. There are four areas of service that will be changed: • The Emergency Department will operate 16 hours a day, 8 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, with the last patient being accepted before 10 p.m.; • Inpatient units will be transitioned to a unit to care for patients waiting for alternative care, such as community care or nursing homes; • The surgical program will close. Surgical volumes will be incorporated into the operating rooms and ambulatory clinics at The Moncton Hospital. Specifics of this plan will be developed over the next six (6) months; and • Some ambulatory care services may change, ensuring we have the right services in your community and throughout New Brunswick. Q. When are these changes happening? A. The changes to the Emergency Department hours will be effective as of March 11, 2020. We will work to implement the other changes over the next three months. All changes will be fully implemented by May 2020. All changes are permanent. Q. Why are you making these changes? A. The challenges facing our health care system are real: an aging population, shrinking professional workforce and shifting community needs. These challenges have had a very real impact on our ability to deliver quality health care services across Horizon. Last year, there were 23 hospital service interruptions province- wide, affecting units such as labour and delivery, general surgery and hospital clinics. At the request of government, the regional health authorities (Horizon and Vitalité) proposed a plan to make our health system more sustainable while increasing access to quality health care services across the province. The provincial government (GNB) has 1 accepted this plan, which will ensure our smaller hospitals stay open despite the challenges we are facing. Q. How will patients benefit from these changes? A. These changes will create capacity in the system for physicians to see more patients in the daytime. The reallocation of resources will make it possible to fund new nurse practitioners, new outpatient clinics and other new services in the affected communities. Q. I don’t have access to a family doctor. How will this plan help me? A. One of the main objectives of this plan is to improve access to family doctors and nurse practitioners. Currently, on average, doctors see only five patients during overnight shifts in these six emergency departments. Not working at night could allow doctors to spend more time in their community practice. Along with introducing more nurse practitioners in New Brunswick, these changes will help reduce the provincial waiting list for a family doctor or nurse practitioner by 54 percent or 18,000 people. Q. Are any hospitals closing? A. No hospitals are closing. Horizon has made operational decisions to better serve patients. Q. Are there plans to consolidate hospital services? A. A transparent, independent review of clinical services will be conducted by the New Brunswick Health Council in partnership with Horizon and Vitalité. Clinicians and other health care professionals will be invited to participate in this process. Q. What will happen to the staff and physicians working at this hospital? A. We will work collaboratively with the unions and staff through this process. We believe these changes will address the lack of staff resources our system is experiencing and help us make the best use of our hospitals and staffing resources across Horizon. We know this will also impact the dedicated staff and physicians who are working in these sites. Historically, Horizon has been successful in finding positions for the majority of employees affected by workforce adjustments. Q. What is being done to address New Brunswick’s shortage of health care professionals? A. The need for qualified health professionals and support staff remains a priority for Horizon. While postings for NBNU and NBU will remain frozen as required while impacted employees have exercised their collective agreement rights, Human Resources 2 will work with managers to ensure that any momentum for the recruitment of candidates into hard recruit positions is not lost. In addition, Horizon recently announced a plan to hire 21 nurse practitioners to work in emergency departments and clinics across the province. This will help reduce wait times at emergency departments in urban centres and will reduce the provincial waitlist for a family doctor or nurse practitioner by more than half. Q. What is being done to reduce surgical wait times? A. New Brunswick’s surgical wait times are currently amongst the highest in the country, and we recognize that we must do better. The regional health authorities are currently working with family doctors, specialists and surgeons to explore new centralized coordination and referral models that have worked well in other provinces. These models would ensure patients have more timely access to preventative care as well as specialists and surgical care. Q. Is anything being done to improve addiction and mental health services? A. We recognize the need to improve access to mental health services, so we also be adding a mental health clinician in each Sussex, Sackville and Perth-Andover. Q. Will Horizon save money by making these changes? A. This decision is not about money. In fact, most of the challenges facing our health care system cannot be solved with more money. We are redirecting all savings from these changes to other parts of the health care system, including new investments in nurse practitioners. Q. How will I be informed about further changes? A. Visit news.horizonnb.ca for updates. We will also keep you informed on our website and social media channels. Questions regarding changes to Emergency Departments Q. What if I need to be admitted after visiting the Emergency Department? A. Following your assessment, diagnosis and/or treatment, you may be discharged or transferred to another hospital, depending on your needs. Q. What if I have an emergency outside these new hours? 3 A. If you have an emergency, call 911. On average, 90 per cent of New Brunswickers are within 63 km of a 24/7 emergency department. If you are unsure whether you should go to an Emergency Department, you can explore options by calling Tele-Care 811, making an appointment with your family physician or primary health care provider, or visiting an after-hours walk-in clinic. For more information, visit SoWhyWait.ca. Q. Will this lead to greater usage of the emergency departments in larger areas overnight? A. On average, these emergency departments saw only 5 patients per night. Most of these cases weren’t emergencies, and patients could have been seen during the day. Q. Has this type of model been implemented at other New Brunswick hospitals? A. Yes. The emergency department at Horizon’s Oromocto Public Hospital is open for 14 hours a day, seven days a week. These hours have been in effect since 2002, and the hospital has continued to successfully meet the needs of its patients throughout the past 18 years. Questions regarding changes to Inpatient Units Q. My family member/friend/loved one is an inpatient at this facility. Where will they go after these closures? A. Inpatients at this facility will continue their treatment at this facility. Once their treatment is complete, they will be discharged. Q. Will these hospitals lose any of their beds? A. No hospitals will lose any beds as a result of these changes. Horizon has proposed converting some beds to better align with the needs of the population and the government has accepted this proposal. Almost 30 per cent of hospital beds are already occupied by seniors who require care typically provided in nursing homes. It makes sense to turn 120 of these beds into long- term beds, so we are realigning resources to better reflect the actual care being provided. Patients with more serious needs will be treated at hospitals offering acute care services. 4 Questions regarding changes to Surgical Program Q. I have a surgery scheduled at this facility. Will I still receive this surgery? Who do I contact about this surgery? A. The transition of the surgical program to Horizon’s The Moncton Hospital will occur over the next six months. If the location of your surgery is changed a health care provider will contact you. Q. I donated to a campaign to purchase equipment for this facility. Where will that equipment go? A. Horizon will work collaboratively with the hospital Foundation to determine the best approach in addressing this concern. Questions regarding changes to Ambulatory Care Services Q. I regularly attend a clinic at my facility every week. Will this service continue? A. Many services will continue. However, the hours of service may change depending on the local need and to ensure we have the right resources in place throughout our organization. We encourage you to continue to attend your appointments and your local health care provider will ensure you receive the care and service you need either at this hospital or refer you to the appropriate hospital or community program. Q. I have an appointment at a clinic at my facility scheduled in the coming weeks. Who do I contact about that appointment? A. Attend your appointment as usual. These changes to services are not yet in effect. We will inform the public about the effective dates of these changes in time. 5 .
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