Community digging in its heels as deadline passes to save Durham's inpatient beds

Durham's inpatient beds are gone — all 10 of them have been moved to neighbouring hospitals, as of Monday.

"I do not like the way the decision went down. I do not like that. The South Grey Bruce Health Centre (SBGHC) decided to close our hospital without consulting anybody. They didn't consult the hospital. It didn't consult the doctors, the nurses, the town, or the municipality," said longtime Durham resident, Ron Macintyre.

The South Bruce Grey Health Centre, which operates hospitals in Durham, Kincardine, Walkerton, and Chesley, said it is not closing Durham's hospital.

A shortage of nurses necessitated the movement of the inpatient beds, and a move to daytime only hours for Durham's Emergency Department.

"The average patient visiting the Durham site was being treated for non-urgent ailments such as earaches or pink eye, and was functioning as an access point for primary care. SBGHC’s decision to refocus the function of their Durham site to primary care will ensure more consistent care in the community and is in response to their community’s needs, recognizing the importance or providing the right level of care where, and when, people need it," said Hannah Jensen, deputy director of communications for Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones.

Durham residents don't see it that way.

"We would like to have some transparency and know how they came to these decisions. What studies were done? Have they considered the impact that this has on not only our community members, but also the surrounding communities?" questioned Dawn McNab, co-founder of Save the Durham Hospital Community Committee.

"I feel sorry for people that have loved ones here that they can pop in for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. Now they're going to have to drive 20, 30, 40 miles, 50 miles to see them. It's not right," said long-time Durham resident, Donna Clark, whose Great-Great Aunt founded Durham's hospital around 1910.

"Yeah, we have a staffing shortage. No. You know, my feeling is we've got a bit of a management shortage," said Mayor for the Municipality of West Grey, Kevin Eccles , which encompasses Durham.

West Grey council has filed a judicial review with an Ontario court to have a judge decide if the transfer of hospital beds out of Durham was done legally.

The community also remains under a healthcare state of emergency, enacted a week ago, to try and force solutions to the healthcare cuts facing the community's only hospital.

"We've got the commitment from, myself and certainly from council, and a number of the community groups that, yeah, we're going to keep going at this. The light switch may turn off, but it is going to turn back on," said Eccles.