Kemptville Hospital's Emergency Department Rescued from Imminent Closure
In a significant development for rural healthcare in Eastern Ontario, Kemptville District Hospital has successfully averted the threatened closure of its emergency department. The 40-bed community hospital, located south of Ottawa, was facing a critical staffing crisis in 2023 that put its emergency services in jeopardy.
Ottawa Hospital Partnership Provides Lifeline
The turning point came when The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) and its emergency physician group stepped in to provide crucial support. At a time when numerous rural hospitals across the province were being forced to temporarily close their emergency departments due to recurring staffing shortages, TOH began working with Kemptville to fill staffing gaps and ensure the emergency department could remain operational.
"We basically could not recruit enough emergency physicians to fill the roster of shifts that we needed," explained Dr. Colin Sentongo, chief of staff at Kemptville District Hospital. "The partnership with TOH was a game changer for our community hospital."
Recruitment Campaign Secures Long-Term Stability
While the partnership provided immediate relief, it had a predetermined end date of March 31, 2026. This deadline prompted Kemptville District Hospital to launch what Dr. Sentongo described as a "pretty active" recruitment campaign to permanently fill emergency physician positions.
"We didn't want to find ourselves in the same place as we were two and a half years ago," Sentongo emphasized.
The hospital recently announced the successful outcome of this campaign: the recruitment of 10 new emergency physicians. This achievement is particularly remarkable given the ongoing physician and healthcare worker shortages affecting hospitals across Ontario.
Factors Contributing to Recruitment Success
Several elements contributed to Kemptville's successful recruitment efforts. According to Dr. Sentongo, the hospital's new CT scanner played a significant role, describing it as a "gold standard of care" that physicians rely on for diagnosing conditions ranging from abdominal pain to head trauma.
Additionally, many of the new recruits are physicians who previously worked at Kemptville through the partnership with The Ottawa Hospital and decided they enjoyed the community hospital environment.
"During this partnership with The Ottawa Hospital, there were a lot of emergency physicians who hadn't experienced community emergency work," Sentongo noted. "All of a sudden they found themselves in a community hospital and a lot of them realized this is a pretty nice place to work."
In Ontario, emergency physicians typically act as independent contractors at public hospitals rather than direct employees, with many working shifts at multiple facilities.
Impact on Community Healthcare
Dr. Sentongo characterized the mass recruitment as an important step forward for the hospital, stating: "It improves stability in our emergency department, supports our existing medical staff and helps ensure that residents of North Grenville and surrounding communities can continue to access high quality emergency care when they need it most."
The successful resolution of Kemptville's emergency department crisis represents a positive development in the broader challenge of maintaining healthcare services in rural communities, where staffing shortages have forced numerous temporary closures in recent years.
