Healthcare ‘emergency declaration’ ends in Durham

The state of emergency has come to an end in West Grey, but the fight isn’t over.

West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles officially ended a state of emergency in the community today.

The state of emergency was declared on March 28, 2024 in regards to cuts to the Durham Hospital.

Durham’s Emergency Department hours were cut last March from 24 hour coverage to 10 hours, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Weeks later, it was announced that Durham was losing all of it’s 10 inpatient beds. The South Bruce Grey Health Centre says the cuts were made due to a chronic and worsening nursing shortage.

The beds are still gone and the ER hours are still limited, but West Grey says it’s time to end the state of emergency.

“The end of the state of emergency in no way diminishes the Municipality’s commitment to advocating for the importance of rural healthcare across our community. The Municipality will continue to work collaboratively with local healthcare providers and community partners to help build a responsive healthcare network for primary care in West Grey,” said West Grey officials in a news release.

West Grey still has a judicial review before the courts challenging whether the South Bruce Grey Health Centre board had the right to make the cuts to Durham’s hospital in the first place.