Thursday is the last day for surgeries at the Charlotte County Hospital in New Brunswick.
Last week, Horizon Health announced it would be shutting down the hospital’s surgical unit permanently, a decision that isn’t sitting well with the residents or the surgeon.
Dr. Tom Goulding has been a surgeon in Charlotte County for more than 30 years, but Thursday is the last day he’ll be performing operations.
“I think it’s a big loss, once the hospital starts losing support,” says Dr. Tom Goulding. “Usually, an advantage of having a surgeon in the hospital is that you had a doctor there all morning if you had any problems or questions.”
Last week, Horizon Health announced the unit would officially close on August 8th because of low volumes. However, three weeks were already planned for the annual OR shut down, making Thursday the last day of operation.
“It does seem to be poorly played out and I’m not sure what will happen, but I know the community is not happy,” says resident Trudy Higgins.
Higgins lives in St. Stephen and she’s wondering if this closure is only the beginning.
“Everything sort of has a domino effect,” says Higgins. “We definitely are not going to be satisfied with that, and we’re not going to sit back and let it happen. Not without a good, long fight.”
People who typically had surgeries in St. Stephen will now have to travel to Saint John.
“The patients I would see here, maybe about 600 a year through our OR, will be all added to the wait list in Saint John,” says Dr. Goulding. “Eventually it will be noticed in Saint John, as people too will wait longer, unless the government can figure out how to get more man power and make things work better.”
Dr. Goulding says he will continue to see patients for consultations and is planning on retiring within a year. Anyone requiring general anesthetic will now have to travel.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ashley Blackford
