Fort Erie "deeply concerned" with overnight closure of urgent care centre

Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop says the service reductions announced by Niagara Health will "significantly affect every Fort Erie resident."

In a statement, the mayor says the town is "deeply concerned with the Niagara Health announcement to reduce by half Urgent Care Services at Douglas Memorial and its Port Colborne site, effective July 5th."

"We need the province to take action on the "state of our emergencies" and avoid further consequences and failures of our provincial health care system to provide quality health care that Fort Erie and all Ontarians need and deserve. There should be no second class citizens when it comes to health care in Ontario."

Redekop says there are 8,000 residents in Fort Erie without a family doctor so their first point of contact with the health care system is an urgent care centre.

He says unless people have access to family doctors they will continue to overload emergency departments in the Region.