Montague hospital's ER will be closed every Saturday starting Jan. 11, says Health P.E.I.

The emergency department at Kings County Memorial Hospital in Three Rivers will "temporarily" stop operating on Saturdays in the new year, says Health P.E.I. 

In a news release, the agency said the ER at the eastern P.E.I. hospital will be open Monday to Friday only starting Jan. 11, citing staffing challenges. 

"The KCMH Emergency Department… is experiencing a shortage of staff at a time when demand for emergency services is increasing," reads the news release. 

"Pausing these services will allow Health P.E.I. to stabilize the situation and continue to develop a long-term plan to ensure sustainable emergency care."

Health P.E.I. said that long-term plan includes having three physicians working Monday through Friday in the emergency room at the Montague facility. 

It said efforts to increase access points to care outside the ER are also part of the stabilization work, including expanding access to services like the new walk-in clinic at the Down East Mall in Montague.

"I want people in Kings County to know this is not a decision we made lightly," Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser was quoted as saying in the news release. 

"Our efforts to maintain Saturday morning services by increasing incentives for locum physicians was partially successful, but the ongoing uncertainty of opening and closing the emergency department week-to-week has been extremely stressful on staff. 

"We need to take this action to avoid over-burdening some of our most important, skilled, and valuable workers."

Health P.E.I. said in October that it is looking to hire five full-time emergency room doctors for KCMH. 

At the time, Fraser cited incentives including higher pay rates and bonuses for locums covering rural areas that will increase each time they work at a hospital outside the Island's urban centres. 

In the long term, the five additional doctors that will eventually be hired will boost the Three Rivers hospital's staffing levels from 1.5 full-time equivalent positions to 6.5.

Health P.E.I. said in the release that the Kings County hospital's ER often sees a disproportionate number of non-urgent patients who could be treated by primary care providers — if they had access to one.

The agency said an "incident command group will be activated to focus on recruiting the necessary staff to expand ED hours, implementing new access points, and working with the community to ensure timely access to care is available in the region."