To the residents of Fort Erie and Port Colborne:

Last week we announced that Niagara Health, with the support of our Board of Directors, is reducing the daily hours of operation for the Urgent Care Centres (UCC) in Fort Erie and Port Colborne. Effective July 5, these UCCs will operate from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. This was not a decision we came to lightly and it was done based on the advice of our Emergency Department physician leadership. It allows us to keep our Emergency Departments open while ensuring continued access to UCC services.

The heart of every community hospital is its Emergency Department. It’s a symbol of our commitment to care for you, every hour of every day of the year. While there have been Emergency Department closures elsewhere in the province, we remain committed to keeping ours open in Welland, Niagara Falls, and St. Catharines.

With the staff and physicians we have, we simply can’t make good on that commitment AND keep our UCCs open at full capacity. So the compromise is reducing the operating hours of the two UCCs so we can better staff our three Emergency Departments and safely care for you. These new hours will still allow us to serve the majority of our UCC patients as 75 per cent of visits are currently during that time. This is not the news many of you will want to hear but it is the reality we currently face.

We need to focus on our people – the ones who deliver your babies, treat your life-threatening injuries in our Emergency Departments and so much more. Niagara Health, like many other hospitals, is struggling to attract and keep valuable healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses. We are short of doctors and, with a challenging summer ahead, we face some hard choices.

The reality too is that all of Niagara needs more comprehensive primary care so that every one of us has a first point of contact for healthcare needs. You deserve this, which is why we are playing our part to fix this situation, collaborating with our partners across the region. From aggressive recruiting to strong advocacy, we are leaving no stone unturned in our pursuit of solutions.

Thank you for your continued confidence in us.