CORNWALL, Ontario – The Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH) has announced that it is closing its Sleep Lab.
The reason given for the closure is that both physicians who operated the lab have resigned their hospital privileges, although no reason has been given by the hospital for the resignations, they have said that efforts to recruit other doctors to operate the lab have be unsuccessful.
“We had originally suspended the service temporarily, hoping to recruit the medical support required for the program,” said Jeanette Despatie, President and Chief Executive Officer, “these efforts were unsuccessful and we have now worked with our partners within the region, including Winchester District Memorial Hospital, to ensure that patients from our community have access to Sleep Laboratory services.”
Despatie went onto explain that the doctors in the Sleep Lab are Respirologist Specialists and recruitment in that field is difficult.
There are approximately 600 patients who were served by the Sleep Lab at the CCH and wait times for the service were at some points as long as one-year.
According to the CCH, the Sleep Lab was used to help doctors diagnose sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.
“We will do whatever we can to ensure good access to these services”, stated Jeanette Despatie.
The closure of the Sleep Lab has resulted in the loss of two full-time positions at the CCH and three part-time positions.
Anyone with any inquiries regarding the Sleep Lab are asked to call the Diagnostic Services Department at 613-938-4240 ext 2340.
