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‘No plans whatsoever’ to close Wallaceburg ER, health minister says
Posted: April 19, 2016
(April 19, 2016)
By: CBC News
Ontario Health Minister Erik Hoskins insists the province has no plans to close the the Wallaceburg Emergency Department at the Sydenham Campus-Wallaceburg District Hospital.
Residents from the Walpole Island First Nation and Wallaceburg are holding a press conference Monday to talk about whey claim is a planned closure of the department.
The Ontario Health Coalition claimed in a news release that “after years of services being gutted, the Wallaceburg hospital is threatened with the closure of its emergency department.”
That’s not true, Hoskins says.
“I understand the concern that has been raised by the community about rumors about the potential closure of the emergency department at Sydenham District Hospital,” Hoskins said in an emailed statement. “And I want to assure the community that there are no plans whatsoever to close the hospital’s emergency department.
“In addition, any proposals to alter the service level of the hospital would need to be approved by all members of the [Chatham-Kent Health] Alliance and the Erie St. Clair LHIN, and would require extensive community consultation and discussions with my ministry. Neither the LHIN nor my ministry have received any such requests.”
According to the Chatham-Kent municipal website, the emergency room at Sydenham Campus-Wallaceburg District Hospital is currently open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There is another emergency room at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, in Chatham.
