Eastern Health is continuing with emergency and urgent services only in acute care facilities on Friday.
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:
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:
Community-based services continue to be available through our community offices, as follows:
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.
Central Health
Central Health will proceed only with services that are not directly impacted by IT Service disruption on Friday. A full list of services cancelled, and services proceeding are listed below. While appointments are not being rescheduled at this time, patients will be contacted directly once the IT system outage is resolved.
Family physicians/Nurse Practitioner services across the region continue to operate. Unless you receive a cancellation notification, please proceed to your appointment as scheduled.
As the online portal for COVID-19 test results are not available, if your result is positive, you will be contacted by Public Health. If 72 hours have passed since the time of your test, you are not symptomatic and you have not yet heard from Public Health, you can assume that your test is negative for the time being. Individuals requiring COVID-19 testing are asked to call 811.
If you require emergency services, please call 911 or proceed to your nearest Emergency Department. While Emergency services in our facilities will continue to operate, please be advised there may be longer wait times.
If you have questions or concerns regarding the current IT System outage and its impact of service delivery, please call the client navigator line: 1-844-651-6214.
Limited appointments and procedures will proceed and patients have been notified directly.
In addition, services that will proceed on Friday, November 5, 2021 include:
Cancelled or postponed services for Friday, November 5, 2021:
Western Health
Western Health’s Meditech system, the main information system which manages patient information, is not operational and restoration of the system will be gradual. As a result, Western Health, will maintain its current level of services into Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 8 and Nov. 9) of next week. All appointments will proceed, except the changes noted below:
Once services are restored, Western Health will be in contact with all clients impacted to identify new appointment times. However, if you have questions or concerns you may call the temporary patient inquiries line at 1-833-879-0390.
The current online portal for viewing COVID-19 test results is not available. If your result is positive, you will be contacted by public health. If 72 hours has passed since the time of your test and you have not yet heard from Public Health, you can assume that your test is negative. Individuals who require COVID-19 testing in the Western region are advised to call 1-833-608-1115, as the online self-assessment is not operational at this time.