The London Health Sciences Center’s Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) is the latest casualty of a strained healthcare system, with staffing problems leading to the unit’s temporary closure.
LHSC said in a statement Friday that it continues to provide critical care services and inpatient electroencephalogram (EEG) tests, which measure electrical activity in the brain, to patients across the city and region.
When asked how long the closure would last, LHSC told Global News it was expected to be a short-term closure.
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The reaction to the closure was not very positive.
“I find it terrible. You know, people go to the epilepsy unit to see if surgery is a treatment option for epilepsy. I think the fact that the department is closed extends or defers the possibility of surgeries, and that’s really the only cure for epilepsy,” said Michelle Franklin, CEO of Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario.
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Franklin told Global News that staffing issues at EMU have existed for years. She believes they are related to a shortage of EEG technicians.
“An EEG is a very specialized test that helps identify or confirm an epilepsy diagnosis and is also used to screen a candidate for the possibility of surgery,” Franklin said.
“So I think the EEG crisis, I call it, has been going on for a couple of years and then you throw in COVID and staff furloughs and now it’s really coming to a head.”
The situation in our #epilepsy unit at @LHSCCanada has reached a critical juncture. After many months with a lack of support from the union and the human resources office, we have to close for a month. We apologize to all of our patients on the waiting list. We will reopen in September.
— Jorge G Burneo (@epileptologo) August 9, 2022
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News of the closure came from a Twitter post by co-director of LHSC’s epilepsy program, Dr. Jorge Burneo.
On Tuesday, Burneo tweeted: “The situation in our #epilepsy unit at @LHSCCanada has reached a critical juncture. After many months with a lack of support from the union and the human resources office, we have to close for a month. We apologize to all of our patients on the waiting list. We will reopen in September.”
LHSC responded to Burneo’s post and said critical and inpatient EEG services would continue for patients.
Burneo then updated his tweet to say that while the epilepsy monitoring unit will be closed to all outpatient procedures until September, intensive care and EEG services will continue.
Hi! We want to make it clear that LHSC continues to provide critical care and inpatient EEG services to patients across the city and region.
– London Health Sciences Center (@LHSCCanada) August 10, 2022
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Earlier this week, LHSC reported an increase in patient wait times in the emergency room due to ongoing staffing issues.
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In a statement released on Twitter, LHSC said the healthcare organization has been addressing employee illnesses, retirements and layoffs. The hospital network says it hired 436 new employees last year to make up for the losses.
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