Prince County Hospital woes take centre stage as P.E.I. legislature resumes

On a day when the Speaker asked all three parties to try again to find consensus on how to divvy up debate time in the P.E.I. legislature, the Liberals, Greens and even backbench PC MLAs found one thing they could agree on: the beleaguered state of P.E.I.'s health-care system, and especially Prince County Hospital in Summerside.

The PCH was the focus of the first question period of the new sitting, with MLAs from all three parties weighing in.

"It should come as no surprise, Madame Speaker, after the experience I've had at the doors that the number-one topic that I heard was the Prince County Hospital," said Matt MacFarlane, making his first appearance in the legislature since winning a byelection in District 19 for the Greens three weeks ago.

The intensive care unit at the PCH was closed almost a year ago because of a shortage of internal medicine specialists, and transitioned into a progressive care unit.

The capacity of that unit was cut even further last month.

MacFarlane said the hospital is now struggling to maintain the nursing staff it would need in order for the ICU to reopen.

"A year ago, the vacancy rate for critical-care nurses was sitting at around 10 per cent," MacFarlane told the legislature.

"Now, it's between 65 and 70 per cent vacancy rates, and those who remain are exhausted, demoralized, and wondering how much longer they can carry on in their jobs."

Here's what happened as the P.E.I. legislature resumed

9 months ago

Duration 4:18

The spring sitting of the P.E.I. legislature began Tuesday with Official Opposition status and health care dominating the day. CBC's Kerry Campbell breaks down the Day 1 question period highlights.

Health Minister Mark McLane said the province has hired three critical care nurses since January, while acknowledging that "it's not enough."

He said the province's latest recruitment trip overseas has led to up to 45 job offers for internationally trained nurses, but added that's also "probably not a solution."

McLane mentioned a new government grant program for skill development within the health-care industry announced Monday, saying: "Critical-care nursing and high-acuity nursing [are] in demand, and we'll continue to try to fill the gap when we can."

He also said the province has hired another external recruitment firm making the total now at least six and said an internal medicine specialist has signed on to work at PCH. The hospital has four current vacancies.

Two weeks ago, McLane told CBC News the government unit in charge of health-care recruitment is also missing about half its staff.

Health care 'at an all-time low'

"We all know, as my colleagues just told us, that our health-care system is at an all-time low," said PC backbench MLA Tyler DesRoches said. He said residents around his constituency, which is home to the PCH, were bearing the brunt of the challenges because of the struggles at the hospital.

"To be frank, if the residents of District 21 are not happy, I'm not happy," he said.

Desroches wanted to know when the hospital will have a new full-time administrator. As the Liberals pointed out during question period, the Summerside hospital's previous administrator was hired by UPEI to work on plans for the province's new medical school.

"That position is very important to the operation of the hospital," agreed McLane.

The minister said the person currently backfilling the position "is doing two jobs, and that's not feasible."

McLane said the province has hired an executive recruitment firm to help "fill that position ASAP."

Another backbench PC MLA, Hilton MacLennan, raised concerns about the "complexity of the hiring process" for doctors, including locum doctors who are hired to fill short- or medium-term vacancies.

"The locum applications run up to about 32 pages," MacLennan said. "Is there an area where some simplification of the process could be in order?"

McLane said he had recently been "kind of dragged really deep into the recruitment process," and spoke with a locum doctor from Western Canada who "expressed some concerns about that."

The minister suggested a new contract under negotiation with the P.E.I. Medical Society could lead to a streamlined process for locum physicians to apply.

Town hall absence questioned

The Liberals wanted to know why the premier missed a Feb. 1 meeting to which he was invited in Summerside, where hundreds of people packed in to share concerns about the future of PCH.

The premier said he was meeting with officials in Ottawa that day.

"Sometimes, meetings are difficult, and conversations are hard, but it's very important to hear those discussions first-hand," said interim Liberal leader Hal Perry.

When pressed for a date on when the ICU at Prince County might reopen, the premier responded: "We want the Prince County Hospital to be fully functional with a fully functioning ICU. But as we know, there are a lot of moving parts to make that happen."

It all comes down to staffing, the premier said.

"It would be irresponsible to give a date because we don't know how long it's going to take to hire that core staff that we need to get them going there. it is our goal to get that service up and running to its full capacity as fast as we possibly can."