Round 6
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/more-changes-health-care-1.6549749
More firings at top of New Brunswick health care
3 senior figures fired, one demoted
A memo obtained by CBC News says Tracey Burkhardt, the executive director of the planning, alignment and engagement division, and Jeff McCarthy, the executive director of innovation and eHealth Services, had "left the Department."
Ellen Delange, a senior policy adviser, was also gone, according to the memo by deputy minister Eric Beaulieu.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Elliot, the assistant deputy minister for public health and integrated community care since August 2021, was demoted to executive director of public health, a less senior role.
In the memo, Beaulieu said that "a revised organizational structure" was being finalized for the department and would be presented to staff Aug. 22.
He said the new structure and approach "are meant to focus energies on initiatives that will bring the most benefits to citizens, staff and the system as a whole."
Previous sweeping changes
The changes come four weeks after Premier Blaine Higgs replaced his health minister, fired the CEO of Horizon Health and replaced the Horizon and Vitalité health authority boards with trustees.
In a series of tweets Friday that did not mention the latest firings, Higgs said the "changes to the governance model" of the two health authorities — which he described last month as temporary — will allow reforms to speed up.
That would allow ideas from frontline staff to "rise quickly to the level of strategic decision making," so they can be piloted and implemented.
The move comes four weeks after Premier Blaine Higgs fired his own
health minister, and the CEO of Horizon Health. (Pat Richard/CBC)
"Unleashing the wisdom of these professionals is key to driving the change we need," he wrote.
Earlier this week, Fredericton emergency department doctor Yogi Sehgal said he sent Higgs a 10-page report on problems in the province's hospitals and possible solutions.
He said in an interview he hadn't seen any improvements since the premier's first round of firings and changes on July 15.
On Thursday, the New Brunswick Medical Society issued a statement saying many doctors are facing "severe burnout and exhaustion" and the system needs more doctors, and more spending on health care.
But in his Twitter thread Friday, Higgs said said his government had already "funded the change we need" with a $168.5 million increase to the health budget this year, the largest since 2008-09.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ambulance-offload-delay-nb-hospitals-1.6548797
Ambulance offload delays at N.B. hospitals leave village stations empty
Patients wait on stretchers 14 hours or more, can’t be abandoned by paramedics
On a recent night outside the Moncton Hospital, as many as 15 units were tied up. Waiting times on June 27 ranged from 52 minutes to nearly 14 hours, according to Ambulance N.B.
What is less visible is how this impacts smaller communities. Crews in towns and villages then may be called up to work in larger centres, leaving stations like the one in Blackville unstaffed.
"This is a result of everything that is going on in the health-care system," said Chris Hood, executive director for the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick.
Patients can't be abandoned before they are transferred fully into hospital care, he said.
"At least one of the two paramedics is at the patient's side, actively monitoring them."
Rarely are patients cooped up in the back of the vehicle. It's more common, he said, for patients to spend hours on ambulance stretchers, parked in a hospital hallway or some kind of hospital holding area.
Meanwhile, first responders know the calls keep coming in.
"Just think of the dilemma those two paramedics feel … when they know that [they] might be able to make a difference in that person's life," Hood said.
They're thinking, "I'm sitting here because the system is broken and I'm not able to respond."
Denver
Brennan, the deputy mayor of Blackville, says he took this photo of the
Blackville ambulance station on Aug. 4. On that day, an ambulance was
parked inside but no staff were on site. When units are called from
Miramichi, it's a 30-minute drive, he says. (Submitted by Denver Brennan )
They also hear the ripple effect as ambulances have to be dispatched to emergencies that are farther and farther away.
Hood said a call in Fredericton could be answered by an ambulance from Saint John or Grand Falls.
Typically, he said, ambulances are taken from smaller communities and redeployed to bigger centres.
"We can use Blackville, for example. That leaves those communities uncovered because that's not typically where the next call is going to come from."
Blackville meeting
Village councillors in Blackville have been so concerned about how often their ambulance resources get pulled away, they hosted a meeting earlier this week with Ambulance N.B. managers.
Deputy Mayor Denver Brennan said it felt productive to have a discussion, and going forward, the two sides hope to meet every three months.
Brennan said offload delays, especially at the Moncton Hospital, and the repositioning of resources were identified as part of the overall problem.
Councillors were also informed that staffing was an issue.
Ambulance N.B. says it has three vacancies at the Blackville station, including two full-time positions and one part-time position.
While recruiting is a priority, the service says vacancies in rural areas are more difficult to fill.
Brennan
was concerned when Ambulance New Brunswick told the village that
problems affecting ambulance service could last five to 10 years. (Village of Blackville)
Meanwhile Ambulance N.B. continues to monitor patient satisfaction through surveys conducted twice a year by a third party.
According to the latest results from June, 95 per cent of respondents were satisfied.
Brennan said the part of the meeting that bothered him most was a caution from Ambulance N.B. that the crisis could continue for another five to 10 years.
"I don't think we can let this go on for five to 10 years," he said. "And it's much more than a municipal issue. Looking at the numbers across the country, it looks like a national issue."
CBC requested an interview with Ambulance New Brunswick but was provided instead with a written statement from Jean-Pierre Savoie, the vice-president.
"We really appreciated the opportunity to meet with the Blackville Municipal Council yesterday. It gave us a chance to update them on some important initiatives we've been working on, discuss some of the challenges we've been facing, and answer any questions they had.
"Questions from council members included topics ranging from staffing shortages, recruitment challenges and potential solutions. We felt it was a very important discussion and we've offered to meet with them on a recurring basis if that would be helpful."
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Deja Vu Anyone???
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/mayors-rural-ambulance-response-1.5771336
Mayors blast 'terrible' rural ambulance response times
Auditor general report shows poor rural response times masked by urban data
· CBC News · Posted: Oct 21, 2020 4:00 PM AT
In many rural and remote communities, Ambulance New Brunswick fails to
respond to 90 per cent of calls within its target of 22 minutes. (Catherine Allard/Radio-Canada)
Mayors and community leaders in small–town New Brunswick say they weren't surprised at all by this week's scathing report by the auditor general about ambulance response times.
The audit shows that in many rural and remote communities, Ambulance New Brunswick fails to respond to 90 per cent of calls within its target of 22 minutes.
"It's terrible," said Belledune Mayor Joe Noel. "It shouldn't be allowed and there's no need for it."
But those shortfalls are obscured, and don't count against ANB's performance payments, because they're combined with better response times in urban centres for measuring performance--which is allowed under the company's contract.
Blackville Mayor Chris Hennessy said the report is a vindication for him.
"They basically bury the rural stats in the urban numbers so they never show the bad with the good," he said.
"I know people thought I was crazy when I was preaching about this for the last five years … so I'm glad somebody uncovered that."
Rural vs. urban response
The aggregation of the numbers allows Medavie Health Services New Brunswick, which operates the ambulance service, to collect $650,000 a year for hitting the broader 90-percent target in four large zones that include cities and towns.
"They're meeting them on the backs of the rural areas," Noel said.
"That's exactly what happens here. When an ambulance goes out in Campbellton or Bathurst, they take the ambulance from Belledune and send it to Bathurst or Campbellton to sit there, whether it gets a call or not...
"It's terrible," says Belledune Mayor Joe Noel. "It shouldn't be allowed and there's no need for it." (Ian Bonnell/CBC)
"That's where the calls are and that's why they're doing it: because it makes their numbers look good."
Harvey Mayor Winston Gamblin said response times in the village are good when the ambulance happens to be at its local station.
But when it's been shifting elsewhere, paramedics have a hard time reaching some locations within 22 minutes.
"We feel that if you live in a rural area, you have to take second best, and that's the way it came out in the report yesterday -- that we're second class citizens and [they say] 'we'll get there when we can,'" he said.
Ambulance targets
Under Medavie's contract with the province, ambulances must hit response targets 90 per cent of the time for the organization to receive performance payments.
The targets are to reach the scene of a call within nine minutes in 16 urban areas and within 22 minutes everywhere else in New Brunswick.
The audit found that in 19 out of 67 communities, ANB fell short of the 90 per cent goal.
But because response times are blended together within four large zones, it "masked" the poor numbers in those rural, remote communities, Auditor General Kim Adair-MacPherson said Tuesday.
Auditor
General Kim Adair-MacPherson's audit said the system "has introduced a
bias toward achieving high performance in areas of greater population
density, to the detriment of rural or remote communities where 911 calls
occur less frequently." (Ed Hunter/CBC)
Her audit said the system "has introduced a bias toward achieving high performance in areas of greater population density, to the detriment of rural or remote communities where 911 calls occur less frequently."
Rural areas were at a disadvantage because the system is "reducing the emphasis on improving performance in those areas," allowing Medavie "to focus resources on urban areas while having decreased performance in outlying communities."
In a statement released Tuesday, Medavie Health Services New Brunswick president Richard Losier agreed the average response time "varies from community to community."
But he pointed out what Adair-MacPherson's audit acknowledged: that the contract doesn't rate performance community by community but in four large zones.
"MHSNB is always open and willing to work with our government partners to improve the services to the people of New Brunswick," he said.
Medavie mum
Medavie did not respond to a request Wednesday for an interview with Losier.
On Tuesday Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said she was talking to Medavie officials about renegotiating the contract, which was renewed in 2017 for another 10 years.
Noel said rural response times should carry more weight in measuring ambulance performance.
"When you're 25 minutes away from a hospital to start with, that's where you need the response times," he said.
Belledune had the lowest number of any community measured by the auditor general: ambulances reached their destination within 22 minutes in only 69 per cent of calls.
On
Tuesday, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard said she was talking to
Medavie officials about renegotiating the contract, which was renewed in
2017 for another 10 years. (Government of New Brunswick)
Marc Henrie, the former chair of the Saint-Paul local service district north of Moncton, said he was not surprised to see the Fords Mills ambulance station with the second-worst rate in the report.
Ambulances based there reach calls within 22 minutes in only 70 per cent of cases.
"The auditor general just released proof that rural citizens are sadly taken as citizens of a second-class," he said.
Henrie chaired the LSD when Ambulance New Brunswick decided to put its bay in Fords Mills rather than in another location closer to Saint-Paul and Route 126, where he says most people in the area live.
"The numbers are not surprising at all," he said.
Sometimes ambulances responding to calls in the Saint-Paul area are sent from Salisbury, even though Moncton is closer. Henrie believes it's so ambulances based in Moncton can stay there and respond to calls in and around the city.
"It's clear that it's not strategic and it's not what's for the well-being in an emergency situation," he says.
Gamblin says he's glad to see the auditor general put the spotlight on the problem but worries it will discourage people from moving to smaller communities. "It's not an advertisement for rural areas," he says.
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Methinks Madame Shephard must know by now that the Medavie officials should be regretting their minions threatening litigation against me today N'esy Pas?
Pathetic Bernard lord pathetic
In the meantime, the important individual in this discussion, the patient in need of an ambulance is left holding the proverbial bag. Not necessarily because of a bad contract with Medavie, but more because of the chronic under funding of the entire health care system by successive NB government. Shortage of Nurses, Shortage of Doctors, Shortage of Specialists, Shortage of ambulances, Shortage of LTC facilities. the only thing we seem to have a surplus is under performing politicians. Example, NB,1 MLA per 17,700 residents, Que, 1 MLA per 67,400 residents, Ont, 1 MLA per 117,500 residents. Have to wonder are we getting 10 times the value from our elected representatives? Doesn't seem to be the case.
Never ever
Methinks your buddies Cardy and Higgy and even your SANB cohorts Maggy and Marc know that ain't rocket science N'esy Pas?
How does police service compare?
Or how about fire services?
Next some of these dreamers will be complaining about the lack of sidewalks and street lights.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/northern-hospital-services-caraquet-mayor-1.6549416
Centralize some northern hospital services, says Caraquet mayor
Bernard Thériault says one pediatric team rather than three is ‘only way’ to address staff shortages
Bernard Thériault says pediatric and obstetric services in Miramichi, Bathurst and Campbellton should be centralized in a single location at the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst.
Thériault, a former provincial cabinet minister and former chief of staff to a Liberal premier, says it's unworkable to have three specialist teams in three hospitals serving an ever-shrinking population.
"We've seen in the last few years that it's a constant battle to keep some staff there," he said. "But by only keeping one, you don't have to have three obstetricians standing by at the same time"
Bathurst would be 'super-regional' centre
In his model, Campbellton and Miramichi would continue to offer other services, but those most often affected by shortages would exist only in a "super-regional" hospital in Bathurst.
"It's a matter of volume, and the population is not there anymore. Those three regions combined together hardly pass the 100,000 mark, which is not even considered the number for a regional hospital. And we're dealing with three here."
The summer of 2022 has seen a wave of temporary service shutdowns at various hospitals around the province.
In Bathurst, what was supposed to be a four-and-a-half day closure of pediatric services starting in late July has now stretched into its third week.
"The shortage of nursing resources is currently exacerbated by the summer period, the pandemic and staff burnout," the Vitalité Health Network said in news releases announcing the initial closure and the extension.
Thériault compared the sporadic shutdowns to a game of musical chairs.
"Right now you have three systems that don't work. Every single day one of them is shut down. .... Let's make sure we're dancing on chairs that are solidly installed, in one regional service."
Vitalité's vice-president of medical affairs, Dr. Natalie Banville, told CBC's Shift New Brunswick that the challenge with pediatrics is that it requires specialized nurses who can't be easily replaced from elsewhere on the staff if someone is sick or on vacation.
She said a decision to merge services from several hospitals would not be made by the health authorities alone.
"It's not under us. It has to come from the government, through consultation with the public, with everybody. … It's out of my field."
In a statement to CBC, Vitalité's CEO Dr. France Desrosiers said the staffing issues are happening across the country, and the network "must work collaboratively with all communities" to find solutions.
"To that effect, we look forward to engaging Mayor Thériault on the subject," she said.
Thériault said he pitched his idea a few months ago to the then-health minister Dorothy Shephard and to Gérald Richard, who was co-chairing a provincial task force on the province's health plan.
Richard was appointed trustee of the Vitalité last month, replacing its board of directors.
Dr.
Natalie Banville, Vitalité’s vice-president of medical affairs, says
decisions about merging services could not be made by health networks
alone. (Government of New Brunswick)
Thériault said Richard was "very positive to that approach of centralizing."
The Department of Health did not respond to a request for comments on the mayor's suggestion.
In July, Premier Blaine Higgs suggested a "bureaucratic stalemate" and management procedures, not staff shortages, were to blame for long emergency wait times and service interruptions.
He said he wanted to see hospitals work together more closely to co-ordinate services.
"I don't believe this has anything to do with — and I'm just stating an opinion here — anything to do with the nurses on shift or the people on shift," Higgs said July 15. "I believe it is a management issue. I believe there is no co-ordination of activity."
Hospitals are sacred cows, mayor says
Thériault said he expects a negative reaction to his idea because hospitals are sacred cows in their communities.
He pointed out the Higgs government was almost toppled in a no-confidence in early 2020 over its plan to close the emergency departments at night in six small hospitals around the province, including Caraquet's.
"'Don't touch my hospital' is still very, very highly pronounced," he said.
But he added: "Even if people from my area may not be happy about that, I'm saying it's not only the best way to do it, it's the only way to make it work."
Campbellton Mayor Ian Comeau said Thériault's suggestion is unacceptable and is based on a subjective look at health care in northern New Brunswick.
Bathurst may be the centre of an area that covers Campbellton to Miramichi, but Comeau said people in Saint-Quentin and Kedgwick also use his city's hospital. Leave out Miramichi, and the "central" location is Campbellton, he said.
Campbellton's hospital serves 25,000 people in health zone 5 and another 15,000 across the river in Quebec, with that province's government paying New Brunswick for the service.
Comeau said rotating some services throughout the north may work but he'd resist anything more.
"Even if we have to look at having services one week here, one week there, that would be good, but I'm certainly not in favour of totally centralizing things to the Bathurst area."
Comeau added that Thériault was part of two Liberal governments that either cut health services or didn't do enough to head off predictable staff shortages.
"He should look himself in the mirror and say, 'What went wrong?' and 'Why did we do such things?' I think it's coming to haunt him now."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Shift New Brunswick
Thériault was employed from 1978 to 1987 as curator and historian at the Acadian Historic Village in Caraquet, New Brunswick, his hometown.
He was elected as a Liberal to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in the 1987 election and was re-elected in 1991, 1995 and 1999. He joined the cabinet in 1994 as Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. In 1997, he became Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs a post he held until the defeat of the Liberal government in the 1999 election. He also served as acting Minister of Education in 1998 while Bernard Richard stepped down from the post to seek the Liberal leadership.
He served briefly in opposition following the 1999 election before resigning in 2000 to run for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2000 federal election. He was defeated by incumbent New Democratic Member of Parliament Yvon Godin in the riding of Acadie—Bathurst.
Following his election defeat, he began to work for the federal civil service from 2000 to 2006. On October 12, 2006 it was announced that he would be leaving his federal post to become chief of staff to the new Liberal premier Shawn Graham effective October 30, 2006.
On behalf of the municipality and on my own behalf, I would like to welcome you to our website, a virtual gateway to the beauty of our city. As you will notice while browsing, Caraquet is a city unlike any of its kind: Cultural capital of Canada in 2003 and 2009, Caraquet has shops for everyone's taste, an important seaport where several species of fish are unloaded, and many other charms. The sea, the artists, the friendliness, the warm hospitality of our citizens, our major attractions and our many festivals, enhanced with the vibrant colors of the Acadian flag, will make your stay with us unforgettable.
Visitors, we invite you to come and meet us to fully experience the natural, cultural and economic beauties of our wonderful part of the country. Come experience Acadia.
Investors, we have something to satisfy you! We have quality infrastructures, including our industrial park, access to the sea and Route 11, in short, everything to ensure that all your business projects are fulfilled.
I hope that your visit will allow you to better appreciate what we offer and answer all your questions about the municipality.
Bernard Thériault
Mayor of Caraquet
City council
Bernard Thériault, Mayor
Phone: 506 726-2727
bernard.theriault@caraquet.ca
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/health-care-new-brunswick-hospital-1.6548373
'Scary' state of health-care system prompts Fredericton ER doc to compile rescue ideas
Dr. Yogi Sehgal says hospital closures possible if dire strain on staffing worsens
New Brunswick's health-care system is in "crisis," and Dr. Yogi Sehgal says political and health-care leaders need to act immediately before the exodus of staff reaches a "critical mass" that leads to widespread hospital closures.
"You could see the system kind of steadily circling the drain over the last few years and in the … last year, a lot of people have been leaving on a daily basis, and they tell me the reasons for it and those reasons haven't changed at all.
"It's scary to go to work and see people having panic attacks at work and actively looking for other jobs on their breaks."
Sehgal said the problems facing the province's health-care system have become so dire that he was inspired to gather his own recommendations and those of his colleagues.
Sehgal says nurses and doctors are having panic attacks at work because
of high stress caused by problems in the system. (Joe McDonald/CBC)
On Wednesday, he emailed copies of a 10-page report he wrote to Premier Blaine Higgs, Health Minister Bruce Fitch, Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard, and leaders within the Horizon and Vitalité health networks.
The laundry list of recommendations covers how emergency departments could be better staffed and operated, better compensation and more protection for nurses, and boosting incentives to recruit physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants for improved access to primary care.
Speaking to CBC News on Thursday, Sehgal said the problems facing the province's health-care services are systemic, with problems in one area having knock-on effects in others.
However, he said one of the biggest problems is the lag in having eligible hospital patients transferred to nursing homes.
"If you just remove those patients out of hospital, you now have a whole bunch of space and potential staff that you can use in other ways, so that's a big one for me," he said.
"And of course, the nursing home patients will get better care in a nursing home than in the hospital."
Promised improvements falling flat
Last fall, the Department of Health released its plan for improving health-care, which is referred to as being in crisis.
The plan set timelines for providing primary care access to all New Brunswickers and offering more supports to help seniors remain in their own homes and out of hospital beds.
More recently, Higgs has promised improvements by way of removing the boards of directors for Horizon and Vitalite and replacing them with trustees tasked with making quick, decisive changes in light of the death of a man while waiting in the emergency department waiting of Fredericton's hospital.
Sehgal said he's aware of those commitments, but he hasn't seen any material difference.
"You can see things getting just a little bit worse all the time, and it just takes that critical mass [of staff] to be gone and then we're in real trouble," he said.
"Like you just won't be able to get the system back up, and then you'll be shutting down hospitals and you'll be, you know, you'll be making very difficult decisions of who gets care and who doesn't, which is, you know, that's unfortunately coming. That the outcome I think we're trying to avoid."
Sehgal's recommendations to officials are "bang-on," said Anthony Knight, CEO of the New Brunswick Medical Society.
"He understands from the front lines as an emergency room physician the challenges confronting our health system, the difficulties patients are facing, and the frustrations family physicians and other health care workers are experiencing on a daily basis," Knight said.
New
Brunswick Medical Society CEO Anthony Knight says Sehgal's
recommendations for improving the health-care system are 'bang on.' (Zoom/CBC)
Knight said the medical society have already advocated some of the recommendations, adding that he encourages Fitch and other leaders in his department to review the document and work on implementing them.
"There are health, human resource shortages throughout New Brunswick, and this places additional strain on those who are able to or continue to work in the province, and his recommendations really capture several of the new initiatives that need to be taken action on immediately by government."
Minister 'happy' to hear from doctor
In an email statement to CBC News, Health Minister Fitch said he was pleased to receive Sehgal's recommendations.
"I am happy that we are hearing from him and others who are offering solutions," Fitch said.
"It is important for us to hear about actions and improvements that people working in the system see as crucial to improving our health-care system and to build upon the incredible work and care being provided to New Brunswickers every day."
Health Minister Bruce Fitch says he's happy to have received the report from Sehgal. (Ed Hunter/CBC)
Fitch said he just began reviewing Sehgal's document, which he received late Wednesday night but noted that several items align with priorities in the provincial health plan, including allowing staff to work to their full scope of practice, improving access to primary health care and addiction and mental health services.
"I will be speaking to staff with the Department, the trustees from the regional health authorities (RHAs) and Extra-Mural/Ambulance NB (EMANB) about all the ideas we are receiving to see how we can take action that will lead to improvements in our health system that benefit New Brunswickers."
Health networks review recommendations
In an email statement to CBC News, Dr. France Desrosiers, president and CEO of Vitalité Health Network, thanked Sehgal for his report and said the network plans to follow up with him.
"At Vitalité Health Network, we have been working for several months on improvements in various sectors, including emergency services," she said.
"Our efforts continue and we look forward to share some of our early results in the weeks to come," she said, adding that health-care staffing challenges aren't unique to New Brunswick.
Horizon Health Network is focusing on the patient experience and patient flow within its emergency departments, as well as "creating the best possible work environment" for staff and physicians, and recruiting new team members, said interim president and CEO Margaret Melanson.
Melanson said Horizon recently consulted leaders at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton, and is now working on creating a "patient flow centre" at the hospital.
Also, to improve access to surgery across its hospitals, Horizon recently announced a new medical co-lead and a new administrative co-lead for surgical services.
"These leaders will engage with staff to hear their ideas on how to improve this crucial aspect of the health care system.
Melanson said Horizon leadership values the input of its physicians and staff as they work together to address health-care challenges, which are being seen across the country.
"We believe engagement and consultation with our staff is an essential means of generating important discourse and new ideas, as well as a way to receive feedback from those on the frontline. We have received Dr. Sehgal's correspondence, and it will be reviewed in accordance with our processes."
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/pediatric-services-bathurst-hospital-vitalite-1.6540489
Pediatric services suspended at Bathurst hospital for another week
Vitalité asks patients requiring pediatric care to go to ER
In a news release sent Wednesday, the health authority said services at the unit, which provides care for sick children, won't resume until Wednesday, Aug. 10 at 8 a.m.
Vitalité said the disruption is due to a shortage of nurses.
"Service interruptions are always a last resort," Vitalité said in the news release.
"We are actively seeking solutions with the people on site to boost the resilience of our teams during these difficult periods. "
Vitalité first suspended services at the unit on Friday, saying at the time there was a plan to have pediatric services back by Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 8 a.m.
In Wednesday's news release, Vitalité said patients requiring pediatric care should go to the emergency department at the Bathurst hospital.
The suspension will not impact obstetrical services.
Vitalité did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other hospitals impacted
Meanwhile, pediatric services are still suspended at the Edmundston Regional Hospital.
The temporary suspension began on July 25, and the hospital will be without pediatric services until Friday Aug. 5 at 8 a.m. due what the health authority said is a lack of pediatricians.
Obstetric services are affected by the suspension at the Edmundston hospital, and Vitalité is directing pregnant women to another hospital for delivery, unless they're in need of urgent care.
Vitalité said in a news release a chronic shortage of pediatricians is affecting hospitals across the country, including several in New Brunswick.
Both pediatric and obstetric services at the Campbellton Regional Hospital have been suspended by the health authority for more than two years, starting in April 2020.
In June of this year, Vitalité CEO Dr. France Desrosiers said those services won't be back anytime soon.
Also in June, pediatric services were suspended for a week at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre due to a shortage of medical staff.
The Edmundston, Moncton and Bathurst hospitals are the only Vitalité hospitals that offer pediatric services.
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