The P.E.I. Nurses' Union plans to meet with the province to discuss how closing two dialysis units will negatively impact nurses and patients.

Health Minister Doug Currie and Health P.E.I. CEO Keith Dewar announced Wednesday that the province is changing the locations of hemodialysis clinics by taking them out of Alberton and Souris and increasing service in Summerside and Charlottetown.

The PEINU says the closures will have an immediate and direct impact on registered nurses who work in the Souris and Alberton dialysis units.

As well, dialysis patients who currently receive treatment at Souris Hospital and Western Hospital will soon have to travel to the new dialysis centre at the Prince County Hospital in Summerside or to Charlottetown where a new provincial renal clinic and new hemodialysis centre are expected to open this summer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

“The loss of these rural treatment facilities that so many people depend upon is really unfortunate for both the patients and the nursing staff,” said nurses' union president Mona O’Shea. “The union will support the nursing staff who are negatively impacted by the changes and will ensure the employer complies with contract provisions protecting members from lengthy travel that is not of their choosing.

"No doubt their dialysis clients will feel similarly about the extra travel, and rightly so.”

The union will be meeting with the province in the near future regarding the affected employees and the closure of the two units, O'Shea said.

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