New guidelines established to begin accepting non-emergency patients at 24/7 Urgent Care Centres

NIAGARA, ON – Ambulances will begin taking non-emergency patients to the Urgent Care Centre at the Douglas Memorial Site in Fort Erie beginning Monday, September 28th at 8:00 a.m.

Niagara Health System (NHS) and Niagara Emergency Medical Services (NEMS) have worked collaboratively through recent months to develop new guidelines for nonemergency patients to be transferred to Urgent Care Centres. Acutely ill emergency patients will continue to be taken to the most appropriate Emergency Room (ER).

These guidelines will be implemented and trialed initially in Fort Erie and will be introduced in Port Colborne sometime in October.

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“We are extremely pleased to have these protocols in place to support the new Urgent Care Centres in Fort Erie and Port Colborne,” says Debbie Sevenpifer, NHS President and Chief Executive Officer. “A number of people worked very diligently to achieve this result on behalf of our patients including our doctors, NEMS and Mayor Doug Martin and his team at the Town of Fort Erie.”

“This process will better allow EMS to match the health care services patients in Fort Erie need with the care available in their community” said John Cunnane, Chief of Niagara EMS. “Having guidelines such as these enable paramedics in collaboration with other health professionals to make these decisions safely and effectively, keeping the best interests of the patients as the focus”.

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