Town hall meeting on PCH’S future
The City of Summerside has scheduled another town hall meeting to discuss the ongoing staffing shortages and related fallout at Prince County Hospital (PCH).
The public meeting will be held at Credit Union Place on Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.
In a letter to provincial and Health P.E.I. officials, Mayor Dan Kutcher, on behalf of council, urged action on the file and stressed that further downgrades to the services provided at PCH are unacceptable.
In 2023, the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) was downgraded to a progressive care unit (PCU) because of staffing shortages. That issue has persisted to the point where Health P.E.I. now says a further reduction in services is likely unavoidable, a comment that prompted 42 doctors working at the hospital to sign and publish a letter last week calling attention to what they say is a staffing emergency.
“The recent decision to suspend all ICU services at the PCH will jeopardize the health and outcomes of the citizens in Summerside, Prince County and the entire province,” reads the letter.
“The implications of this decision and the failure to prevent this from occurring have resulted in further downgrades at the PCH, new barriers to retention and recruitment of frontline health professionals and increased morbidity and mortality.”
The letter calls on elected and senior leadership government officials to attend the upcoming town hall and to commit to reopening the PCH ICU.
It also calls for the release of a “long overdue and previously promised” action plan detailing how the hospital
will navigate out of this situation.
The city last held such a public town hall in April 2023, following the original news of the ICU’S downgrading.
In a recent interview, Health Minister Mark Mclane said the province does plan to restore the intensive care unit at PCH once sufficient staff is in place.
“There is absolutely no plan to reduce services at PCH, full stop,” Mclane said.
“We have to staff it safely. So, whether it's a PCU or an ICU – however we deliver the services, we have to deliver it safely and we can't stretch our health-care workers to the brink."
Mclane also said three internists are in the “hiring pipeline” at the moment.