First Time in Lachine Hospital History a Nurse Shortage Forces Closure of ICU Unit for the Holidays

For the first time in Lachine Hospital history, a shortage of nurses has forced the McGill University Hospital Centre (MUHC) campus to shut down its intensive care unit for the holiday season.

Three of the five ICU beds at the medical hospital will be closed from December 20 to January 6. The two other ICU beds have been relocated to the emergency department.

Quebec health centres are currently struggling with a nursing shortage, forcing most hospitals in the province to apply mandatory overtime to nurses’ schedules.

“They’re in tears,” Roberto Bomba, a spokesperson for the Fédération Interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), told Global News. “It’s very difficult thinking you’re going home after working an entire night, you’ve been up for almost 24 hours and you have to care for your family, your loved ones, your kids, and someone’s telling you you’re not leaving. You’re there again until 4 p.m. and then you’re back again at midnight.”

Over the last four years alone, as many as 4,000 nurses left the Quebec health network.

Quebec’s health minister Danielle McCann has set aside $200 million in the recent budget to hire more health-care workers. But according to the FIQ union, which represents 76,000 nurses and other health-care professionals, declared the province needs close to the $350 million to ensure a proper nurse workforce.