November 4, 2021 – St. John’s, NL: The information technology (IT) systems outage across the province continues to impact a number of health-related services as work continues to bring health-care and clinical systems back online in a safe and controlled manner.
Eastern Health remains focused on the delivery of emergency and urgent care while Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information works to restore full functionality of IT systems.
As such, emergency and urgent services in acute care facilities only will proceed on Friday, November 5, 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 based on clinical priority, and is starting to work on scheduling some surgeries and procedures that can be performed safely.
Patients who have questions regarding appointments, procedures and surgeries scheduled for Friday, November 5, 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/.
We are working with the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI) to bring our health-care and clinical systems back online in a safe and controlled manner. Work is ongoing and it will be a gradual process as we continue efforts to restore full functionality. In addition, the Eastern Health email system is now operational, and we are starting to receive email from external email addresses across the organization.
Provincial Cancer Care Program Updates
Chemotherapy appointments are now proceeding at a reduced capacity and patients will be contacted directly to schedule an appointment. For all other appointments, patients will be contacted directly if their appointment is proceeding.
The following appointments and services are currently cancelled:
- Clinic appointments
- Radiation 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.
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. For the most up-to-date information, please visit the ‘Service impacts’ webpage.
- 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.
Appointments at Private Doctors’ Clinics
Patients who attend appointments at private doctors’ clinics are encouraged to check with those clinics directly.
Phone Systems
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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