Pledge to restore Summerside hospital's ICU met with relief, but province urged to keep hiring

Stephen Brun · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 11, 2025 6:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

There's cautious optimism successful Prince County aft the P.E.I. authorities promised to reopen the intensive-care portion astatine the region's largest infirmary this summer. 

The ICU astatine Summerside's Prince County Hospital has been operating arsenic a scaled-back progressive-care portion for astir 2 years owed to deficiency of staffing. 

Thursday's provincial fund address, however, included an announcement that determination volition soon beryllium capable doctors to reconstruct captious attraction by August. 

"All successful all, bully to hear. You privation to possibly bid the banner but not bent it up yet. Lots tin hap successful 4 months," Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher said connected Friday. 

"Having critical-care services present disposable for radical erstwhile they request them volition marque a immense quality successful the lives of radical who request it the most, erstwhile they request it the most. The interaction is truly immeasurable." 

WATCH | 'August would beryllium awesome': Reaction to committedness that PCH intensive attraction portion volition instrumentality this summer:

The eight-bed intensive-care portion astatine Prince County Hospital has been closed since May 2023 owed to a deficiency of the benignant of specialized aesculapian unit needed to tally it.

Since then, much superior intensive-care cases person been handled astatine the Queen Elizabeth Hospital successful Charlottetown, 60 kilometres away.

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.

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

Now, Health P.E.I. said a sixth interior medicine doc has been hired, and that's what it volition instrumentality to get the portion afloat functional again.

Dr. Tyler McDonell, the hospital's aesculapian director, said the announcement has unit "very optimistic," but the province's program to reopen the portion successful August volition each beryllium connected what staffing looks similar astatine that time.

He said six interior medicine doctors is the "bare minimum" of what's needed to run the ICU, truthful the state can't halt its recruitment efforts. 

"Ultimately, our portion volition beryllium backmost and afloat unfastened for concern erstwhile we're acceptable to beryllium afloat backmost and unfastened for business," MacDonald said. 

"August would beryllium awesome, and we're surely wanting to propulsion for that." 

Can't person 'ebb and flow,' says nurses' union

There are besides concerns astir having capable nurses to enactment successful the intensive-care unit. 

P.E.I. Nurses' Union president Barbara Brookins said determination are presently 10 full-time nurses moving successful the progressive-care portion positive 14 question nurses employed connected short-term contracts. 

She said the state volition person to prosecute much imperishable nurses successful bid to support the ICU unfastened consistently. 

"We request to guarantee that the unit are permanent, and we request to find ways to enlistee into these areas truthful that radical enactment successful these areas, making definite that this conscionable doesn't ebb and travel and adjacent period we person to adjacent it again," Brookins said. 

"That's not the mode we request to supply a service." 

Health P.E.I.'s CEO is confident that the portion volition beryllium up and moving successful the summer, however. 

Melanie Fraser said the progressive-care portion has been scaling up to supply intensive attraction successful immoderate situations. The bureau is besides looking to enlistee much full-time nurses for the infirmary to assistance stabilize that team, she said. 

The extremity goal, said Fraser, is to person some PCH and QEH with afloat functioning intensive-care units truthful that the province's health-care strategy has a backup plan. 

"To me, it's incredibly important connected a tiny agrarian land that we bash person redundancy, that we person the accidental for 2 locations to enactment each different should services beryllium challenged successful 1 area," she said, utilizing the connection "redundancy" successful the consciousness of having a duplicate acceptable to forestall the breakdown of an full strategy if thing goes wrong.

"I person said repeatedly that it is my extremity and my committedness to person 2 afloat redundant hospitals connected the Island."