Lachine Hospital will become community hospital with full ER: MUHC
Posted April 26, 2023 11:57 am.
Last Updated April 26, 2023 6:43 pm.
The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) confirmed Wednesday the Lachine Hospital will become a community hospital.
That means its emergency department will gradually reopen over the next few months to be able to receive walk-in patients and ambulances 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Since February the hospital has seen a reduction in services, including having ambulances redirected to other health centres. ER operations had been reduced to 14 hours a day.
A petition had been launched to help save the hospital’s services.
The MUHC says by September, a working group will put in place the prerequisites for the reopening, which will also allow for admissions of patients with more acute conditions.
Inpatient units, which currently include 36 beds, will be gradually expanded by an additional 20 beds over the next 12 to 18 months.
But the health centre adds these will only open as staffing and family physician recruitment permits.
This coincides with the Lachine Hospital’s $220 million modernization project, which is currently underway.
RELATED
- Group demanding action on reduction of services at Lachine hospital
- West Island community’s march to ‘Save the Lachine Hospital’
The pressure to return Lachine to its previous status gained steam in recent days and weeks.
A group of citizens and elected officials went to the National Assembly on Tuesday to have their voices heard.
In March, the 12 mayors of the West Island co-signed a letter addressed to the Quebec health minister, and the community organized a rally to “save the hospital.”
Citizens previously expressed concern that management of the MUHC would permanently close the emergency department and the intensive care unit at the Lachine Hospital.
—With files from The Canadian Press
