Montague hospital ER closed Monday evening, all day Tuesday

Kings County Memorial Hospital's emergency department will close Monday at 3 p.m.and will remain closed all day Tuesdaybecause of a lack of doctors, says a written release from Health PEI.

It will reopen Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.

There have been about a dozen closures of the ER at the Kings County Memorial Hospital since last fall because of a lack of doctors.

A public meeting was held in Montagueon May 18 to tell the community aboutchanges being made to limit closures.

These includedcutting shift times for doctors working in the ER from 14 to eight hours and determining whether low-risk patients could be seen the next day rather than admitting them.

Those changes went into effectJune 1.

The issue of the closures was raised in the P.E.I. legislatureafter a Health PEI memo was issuedlisting13days in June the hospital would be understaffed.

Anyone with urgent medical needs should access Queen Elizabeth Hospital or call 911, the release said, and people with health concerns or needing health information can call 811 to speak with a registered nurse.

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