'Extremely concerning': Glace Bay ER closed for almost a year due to staffing shortages

The emergency department at the Glace Bay Hospital has been closed since July 2021, and it’s unclear when it will reopen.

“It's very concerning. It's probably one of the questions being asked in the community these days,” said David MacKeigan, president of Bay It Forward, a local community group that has helped attract doctors to the community in the past.

“The longer it's closed, the harder it's going to be to reopen,” he said.

The only ER currently operating in Cape Breton Regional Municipality is at the island's largest hospital in Sydney, N.S.

“The emergency department in Glace Bay, in the proposal that was made by the Liberals under Stephen McNeil, was supposed to be expanded and kept open, and instead it has closed and has had a disastrous effect on the Regional,” said Cape Breton physician Dr. Margaret Fraser.

Fraser says upwards of 150 patients a day have registered at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney.

“Glace Bay really does need to reopen. There needs to be some other option for emergency care. There needs to be a community emergency department,” she said.

A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health says their goal is to keep the ER in Glace Bay open, once staffing levels stabilize.

“It's extremely concerning. People shouldn't have to second guess where they're going for emergency care,” said Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative MLA John White.

One of White’s campaign promises was to keep the hospital in Glace Bay open.

“I can assure you that every effort is being made to reopen the ER,” he said.

Nova Scotia Health says three physicians have recently been hired to work in Sydney, but there are still 20 nursing vacancies.

Nearly a year after it closed, there's still no firm date on when the ER department in Glace Bay will reopen.