Emergency Care in Fort Erie/Port Colborne
Changing our services
A lot of people are saying that the Emergency Departments in Fort Erie and Port Colborne are going to close – what is the NHS proposing?
As per Dr. Kitts’ report, the 24-hour Emergency Departments would become 24-hour Prompt / Urgent Care Centres, open 7 days a week, year round. A similar model is currently used at the NHS Ontario Street Site in St. Catharines and works well.
Our Emergency Department doctors and nurses in Fort Erie and Port Colborne would continue to provide excellent care for patients in the proposed Prompt/Urgent Care Centres, located in the same area of these sites.
Please note that with this change, almost all (95%) of the adults and children that currently go to the Emergency Departments at Fort Erie and Port Colborne would continue to go to those two sitesfor treatment at the Prompt/Urgent Care Centres.
What is the difference between an Emergency Department and a Prompt/Urgent Care Centre?
An Emergency Department receives ambulances, treats all levels of emergency cases and can admit patients to hospital beds. The expected standard of care in providing emergency service is having fast access to high-tech diagnostics, surgical backup and on-call specialists.
A Prompt/Urgent Care Centre does not accept ambulances and does not admit patients to hospital. These centres are, however, equipped with many medical services and provide outpatient treatment for such medical conditions as lacerations, asthma, fractures and dislocations.
All Prompt/Urgent Care Centres in Ontario are set up to handle ‘the unexpected’ – the person who walks in and collapses suddenly or is having a heart attack.
| ER Departments Treat … | Urgent Care Centres Treat … |
|---|---|
Call 911 if you have severe chest pain, Ambulances bring patients to Emergency
|
Urgent Care Centres have access to services such as x-rays, lab tests and pharmacy. Ambulances bring non-emergency cases to Douglas and Pt. Colborne Urgent Care Centres. |
What would happen if people have a sudden serious illness?
Day or night, residents who are in an emergency situation should call 911. Every Niagara EMS ambulance strives to have an advanced-care paramedic on board who is trained to stabilize patients and transport them to the most appropriate Emergency Department, based on symptoms.
For example, ambulances today take patients with a possible stroke from anywhere in Niagara to Greater Niagara General Site Emergency Department, because the district stroke program has an on-call specialized team at that site.
Paramedics are using many of the same treatment protocols in the ambulance that our Emergency Department staff uses, so residents can be assured that ambulance pre-hospital care focuses on patient safety at all times.
In the ambulance, paramedics receive direction from Niagara’s Base Hospital physicians for such sudden illnesses as asthma attacks in children and heart attacks.
Will Niagara Falls and Welland Emergency Departments be able to handle the extra patients?
The majority of people would receive their treatment in the Prompt/Urgent Care Centres in Fort Erie and Port Colborne. Most serious cases are transported to a larger centre now, and we can manage additional patient volumes in either Niagara Falls or Welland currently and in the future.
What happens in a snow storm if the QEW is closed – how will ambulances get to the Niagara Falls or Welland from Fort Erie? (Answered provided by Niagara Emergency Medical Services)
In the rare event that weather or any other incident was to cause the closure of the QEW to the public, ambulances would still be permitted to travel on the highway. Options to assist with travel to Niagara Falls or Welland may involve taking alternate routes and/or requesting snowplows to help clear the way.
For instance, during the October 2006 snowstorm, ambulances continued to travel despite the QEW being closed. Niagara EMS would also immediately add additional resources and commit them to the areas affected by the incident.
Why are you recommending Prompt/Urgent Care for Fort Erie and Port Colborne?
We want to get patients to the right place for the right care. The fact is that over 95% of all the patients coming to the Fort Erie and Port Colborne Emergency Departments are not true emergency cases. All of these patients would continue to be treated at the proposed Prompt/Urgent Care Centres in these communities.
Many of the serious patient cases who now arrive at these two smaller emergency departments by ambulance are transferred to a major hospital centre.
Under the proposed model, ambulances would take all emergency cases directly to the larger centres in Niagara and beyond, saving valuable time.
Will the Fort Erie Emergency Department renovations still happen?
Yes – we’re happy to report that renovations are now complete. The renovations we’ve carried out with the financial support of the Douglas Memorial Hospital Foundation have created a separate triage area, more private patient registration space and better workflow space for doctors/nurses. These renovations will serve our patients well now and in the future.
Will everyone have to go to St. Catharines for hospital care? Why is the new hospital complex being located in west St. Catharines – that’s too far away?
No, everyone will not have to go to St. Catharines for all their hospital care. Only for some specialty care will residents travel to Welland, Niagara Falls or St. Catharines.
There is a great deal of misinformation in the community about the new health-care complex in St. Catharines. It is NOT going to be a regional hospital, and will not require everyone in Niagara to go there for all hospital care.
The Niagara Falls and Fort Erie hospitals will continue to provide the bulk of the Emergency Department, inpatient, dialysis and diagnostic care for residents closer to these hospitals. We are by no means putting everything into a new regional hospital that is more than 30 minutes away.
The new health-care complex in St. Catharines is primarily a local community hospital to serve the residents of St. Catharines, Thorold and Niagara-on-the-Lake. That’s why it is located in west St. Catharines, near Highway 406 and the QEW. The complex will provide new regional services – cancer care, cardiac catheterization and specialized (tertiary) mental health care. None of these services are currently provided in Niagara, meaning Niagara residents have to travel to Hamilton, Toronto or beyond.
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