The Horizon Health Network has hired two new surgeons to work at the Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville, N.B., a recruitment officials say was well needed. The health network says this is the first time in 10 years all three general surgery positions at the hospital have been filled. The hospital has seen labour and birth services suspended due to a lack of physicians who could provide emergency C-sections. A news release from the network says the surgical recruitments are “an important step toward addressing staffing pressures that have contributed to temporary diversions of labour and birth services at URVH.” The surgeons are set to undergo emergency and elective C-section training. Dr. Ken Gillespie, the physician program lead of Horizon’s Women and Children’s Health program, says it will strengthen care for patients and families in the region. “While more work remains, we are encouraged by this progress and will continue working with our teams and government partners to support sustainable local services now and into the future,” he says in the release. Horizon is also trying to recruit anesthesia and operating room-trained nursing professionals. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
