P.E.I. Opposition leery of ICU reopening plan, but minister confident of summer timeline

Stephen Brun · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 6:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

Access to wellness attraction dominated Wednesday's statement successful the P.E.I. Legislature, with concerns raised implicit the reopening of the intensive-care portion astatine Summerside's infirmary and ambulance hold times successful agrarian areas. 

The ICU astatine Prince County Hospital has been operating arsenic a scaled-back progressive-care portion for astir 2 years. 

However, the state announced earlier this period that it would person capable interior medicine doctors astatine PCH to supply afloat captious attraction by July. 

Opposition wellness professional Gord McNeilly raised concerns successful the legislature astir whether there are enough nurses to support the portion open. 

"You admitted yourself that we're facing a shortage of critical-care nurses successful the province," McNeilly said successful a question directed astatine P.E.I. Health Minister Mark McLane. 

"How are you readying to reopen the ICU astatine PCH this July erstwhile there's nary denotation you've really solved the staffing situation that forced it to adjacent successful the archetypal place?" 

WATCH | Health curate handles questions astir erstwhile Summerside's ICU volition instrumentality and paramedic hold times:

The eight-bed intensive-care portion astatine Prince County Hospital has been closed since May 2023 owed to a deficiency of specialized staff. Since then, much superior intensive-care cases person been handled astatine the Queen Elizabeth Hospital successful Charlottetown, 60 kilometres to the east.

PCH had been operating an eight-bed progressive-care portion until January 2024, erstwhile Health P.E.I. chopped the fig of beds to 4 due to the fact that determination weren't capable aesculapian unit to look aft 8 patients.

The determination spurred a municipality hallway gathering successful Summerside past twelvemonth that saw hundreds of residents crook retired to explicit their vexation to provincial wellness officials.

'A realistic timeframe'

After question play Wednesday, McLane said he's assured the infirmary volition person the unit it needs to reopen the afloat eight-bed ICU by July. There are 4 interior medicine specialists present connected unit astatine PCH, and 2 much volition beryllium joining the squad this summer. 

"We ever trust connected our portion to recognize information and requirements, and determination whitethorn beryllium immoderate abrogation challenges astatine that clip of year, but summertime is simply a realistic timeframe," helium insisted.  

The wellness curate added that six Island nurses person already upgraded their skills to let them to enactment successful captious care, portion 5 much are successful training. 

But to capable the gaps successful the meantime, McLane said the ICU volition inactive person to trust connected question nurses, who enactment for an autarkic bureau and are hired connected an as-needed basis, usually astatine higher wages than a province's ain nurses. 

Ambulance waits coming down, curate says

There was besides treatment Wednesday astir radical waiting hours for ambulance services successful immoderate agrarian areas of the province. 

Green MLA Matt MacFarlane cited Souris arsenic an illustration of an country wherever hold times much than doubled betwixt 2009 and past twelvemonth — from an mean of 11 minutes up to 24 aft an exigency telephone comes in. 

McLane said those times are dilatory starting to travel down, on with the vacancy complaint for Island EMS paramedics. 

Community effect units announced past May responded to astir 300 calls successful the past twelvemonth and are taking immoderate of the unit disconnected of frontline ambulances, the curate said. Those units tin supply aesculapian attraction connected site, but don't transport patients to hospital. 

McLane said determination are shortages crossed the country, but P.E.I. has 18 graduates coming retired of its paramedicine programme this twelvemonth alone.

He besides said that for the archetypal clip since 2006, the authorities is renegotiating its declaration with Island EMS.

"I deliberation it's a bully clip to instrumentality different look astatine however we present those services, but I would say… that work has done america well," McLane said. 

"We've had capableness challenges, particularly implicit the past 3 oregon 4 years with colonisation growth, but I look guardant to a caller statement that… reflects today's needs."