Fredericton hospital moving services to community spaces to address capacity concerns

The Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital is moving its medical unit out of the ambulance bay.

The Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton is moving some outpatient services to a community location to free up spaces for acute care in the building.

The Horizon Health Network said some electrodiagnostic and respiratory therapy services will be moved to the community spot by March 31, which will allow ambulatory care clinics currently located on 4 West to move into those now empty spaces.

The move will create 13 new acute care spaces for patients in the hospital, according to a news release from Horizon Health.

“Our hospitals are under significant strain, with many acute care beds occupied by patients who are medically discharged but awaiting long-term care,” said Margaret Melanson, president and CEO of Horizon, in the news release. “While we continue working with our government and health system partners to address these systemic challenges, we are taking action to optimize the space we have and ensure patients receive care in appropriate environments.

“This approach will improve patient flow and create a safe, more supportive working environment for staff and physicians.”

Horizon said the changes will allow the medical transition unit (MTU) that is currently in the converted ambulance bay to also move to 4 West. The former space for the unit will be repurposed to provide additional clinical care space along with bathrooms and handwashing sinks.

“The MTU was established in 2024 as an urgent response and temporary measure to chronic overcapacity pressures at the (hospital),” the release reads. “It provides space for patients admitted through the Emergency Department while they await transfer to regular inpatient beds.”

Earlier this month, Katarina Lekborg issued an open letter to Premier Susan Holt about her grandmother’s experience in the makeshift treatment unit.

“There is no bathroom. No running water. No sink to wash hands. She eats inches from the commode she must use to relieve herself,” she wrote. “There is no privacy, a tattered curtain with holes. No doors. The lights are relentless, on all day and all night. There are no windows, no way to tell the time of day. Paper thin ‘walls’; the noise never stops.”

Horizon said phlebotomy services will open at Brookside Mall to improve access for blood and specimen collection. The services will also be available at Dr. Everett Chalmers and Oromocto Public Hospital.

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Laura Brown

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