November 3, 2021 – St. John’s, NL: The information technology (IT) systems outage across the province continues to impact a number of health-related services. Eastern Health is continuing to implement contingency plans and remains focused on the delivery of emergency care as work continues to resolve the outage.
Emergency services in acute care facilities only will proceed on Thursday, November 4, 2021. Patients and clients who have not been contacted directly, should assume that their appointments have been cancelled. Eastern Health is working through a process to reschedule appointments, surgeries and procedures based on clinical criteria.
Patients who have questions regarding appointments, procedures and surgeries scheduled for Thursday, November 4, 2021 may call the temporary patient inquiries line: 1-833-777-1276. In addition, patients can visit the IT Systems Outage webpage Eastern Health has developed for additional information via www.easternhealth.ca/it-systems-outage/service-impacts/.
Provincial Cancer Care Program Updates
Patients will be contacted directly if their appointment is proceeding. The following appointments and services are currently cancelled:
- Clinic appointments
- Radiation appointments
- Chemotherapy appointments
- Bloodwork appointments
- Routine screening
The program is unable to accept telephone messages at this time. If you require to speak directly to a member of the cancer care team, please call 709-777-6480.
If you had an appointment for radiation marking/planning/CT Simulation for any date on or after November 1, 2021, please call 709-777-6480, pathway #3 during regular business hours (Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.).
Community-Based Mental Health and Addictions Services Updates
Psychiatry Clinics: Psychiatry clinics will resume on Friday, November 5, 2021. Clients who have a scheduled appointment and who have not already been contacted to confirm should call the appropriate clinic listed below, prior to their visit. Clients should be ready to provide their Medical Care Plan (MCP) number, the time of their appointment and their psychiatrist’s name at the time of their call. As message managers are not working at all sites and phone lines are busy, we appreciate your patience as we work through this process.
Janeway Hospital: 709-777-4197 or 709-777-4476
Geriatric Psychiatry, Dr. L.A. Miller Centre: 709-777 -6717
PIER Program: 709-777-3614
Terrace Clinic: 709-693-8926 or 709-685-0784
St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital: 709-777-5390
Waterford Hospital: 709-427-9602
Health Sciences Centre: 709-777-6740
For those that have missed scheduled psychiatry clinic appointments earlier in the week, you will be contacted to reschedule your appointment at a later date
Virtual Addictions: Drop-in virtual groups are ongoing and participants can use the links provided from last week. Clients who have questions may call 709-752-4226.
Please note the new temporary phone lines in place as phone lines are currently down.
- East End Team/Terrace Clinic: Temporary phone numbers are 709-693-8926 and 709-685-0784
- FACT, St. John’s: The temporary number is 709-777-3266
For more information regarding community-based mental health and addictions services, please visit the ‘Service impacts’ webpage.
The following services continue to be available:
- Pediatric chemotherapy is continuing at the Janeway Children’s Health and Rehabilitation Centre. Patients are being contacted directly.
- All high-risk prenatal appointments and one-week checks.
- Blood testing for patients requiring INRs (international normalized ratios).
- In-person dialysis at all locations throughout the region.
- Maternal-Fetal Assessment Unit appointments.
Community-based services continue to be available through our community offices, as follows:
- Community Supports including home nursing visits, Home Support, and Direct Home Services.
- Public Health including child health clinics and preschool health check clinics, all Influenza and COVID-19 vaccination clinics with the exception of the controlled setting COVID-19 clinic.
- Mental Health and Addictions community counselling services. For the most up-to-date information, please visit the ‘Service impacts’ webpage.
- Rehabilitation Services including outpatient rehabilitation clinics provided at the Dr. L.A. Miller Centre. For more information regarding current services at the Dr. L.A. Miller Centre, please visit the ‘Service impacts’ webpage.
- Primary Health Care clinics including virtual care and face-to-face visits.
eRecruit: Online Job Postings and Applications
The eRecruit website, which includes internal and external job postings at Eastern Health, is currently unavailable as well external email correspondence is affected. Closing dates for all current postings will be extended when the IT outage is resolved. Any HR paper documents can be dropped off through the mail slot at Mount Pearl Square (Business Entrance); please include your name and your contact phone number as well as the mail recipient’s name on the documentation. Other drop off points include 10-12 Harris Drive Business Park, Marystown and 50A Manitoba Drive, Clarenville.
Appointments at Private Doctors’ Clinics
Patients who attend appointments at private doctors’ clinics are encouraged to check with those clinics directly.
Eastern Health Suppliers and Vendors
Payment processing for suppliers and vendors as well as email correspondence is affected. Those who currently receive payments via cheque are strongly encouraged to provide the required information for electronic funds transfer (EFT). EFT information can be mailed or dropped off to the following address: Eastern Health Business Office, Attention: Accounts Payable, 760 Topsail Road, Mount Pearl, NL, A1N 3J5. Suppliers and vendors can make inquiries via telephone to 709-752-4534.
Email and Phone Systems
Email and some phone systems, including the Client Relations line, continue to be affected by this outage. Work is underway to restore phone service as soon as possible.
Eastern Health recognizes the impacts to patients, clients and residents and we apologize for the inconvenience.
We also thank the public for their patience, recognizing that many services may experience unexpected or unavoidable delays, as Eastern Health staff work to adjust processes to ensure patient safety.
We are committed to keeping the public informed about this unanticipated disruption in services. Updates will be provided as information becomes available via Eastern Health’s website at www.easternhealth.ca and social media platforms, Facebook (www.facebook.com/EasternHealthNL) and Twitter (@EasternHealthNL).
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