GATINEAU, QC. -- The Outaouais public health unit says the Gatineau Hospital is training additional nurses in intensive care duties after a staffing shortage forced a shut down of the ICU this weekend.
In a press release on Monday, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l'Outaouais (CISSSO) said the hospital was forced to suspend services in the ICU after two nurses were absent, bringing the total number of absences to nine of 15 staff members.
The union representing nurses at the hospital told CTV News on Sunday that problems had been brewing for months regarding overworked nurses and short staffing.
The CISSSO said there are four beds in the Gatineau Hospital ICU and that the patients there were transferred to hospitals in Buckingham, Maniwaki and Montreal.
The health unit also said that 10 nurses were being trained in intensive care protocols and they are working on reassigning nurses from other hospital wards who have ICU training and have offered raises for full-time work. The CISSSO has also reached out to other regions to ask about staffing levels.
The ICU remains closed. The CISSSO has promised that any new patients who need intensive care will get it. There are 35 ICU beds in the Outaouais region, with the majority at the Hull Hospital.