Prince William Health District cuts services due to shortage of nurses

Prince William Health District (PWHD) is reducing the delivery of some of its services and consolidating most of them at the Woodbridge Clinic. These actions are a result of a shortage of nurses and continued inability to fill many nursing staff positions, according to Lorrie Andrews-Spear, Risk Communications Manager for the Virginia Department of Health.

“In the past few years, the health district has lost many of its nurses to retirement, relocation or to other jobs in the northern Virginia or D.C. area,” said Dr. Alison Ansher, Prince William Health District Director, was quoted as saying in a news release.  “We have been unable to fill positions, despite repeated efforts,” Ansher stated.

Services affected are women’s wellness, teen wellness, sexually transmitted infections, refugee screenings, and tuberculosis screening and treatment, the news release noted.

Women’s wellness services will be consolidated to the Woodbridge clinic site. Teen wellness services will continue in both the Manassas and Woodbridge sites as will Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) testing and treatment. Refugee screenings will be conducted at the Manassas site only. Tuberculosis screening and treatment will be handled on an individual basis.

In addition, patients or would-be patients may notice appointment availability may be further out when scheduling an appointment for services. They may also discover that some services may be available at other health care facilities or community health centers in the area and decide to receive their services there.

Dr. Ansher said Prince William Health District will notify its community partners and patients of the service changes and will assist in referring patients to alternate sources for care whenever possible.

Services will be reevaluated as new staff is able to be hired and trained, according to Dr. Ansher. The doctor noted that Prince William Health District is seeking qualified nurses now to provide a broad range of public health nursing services throughout the district. Job descriptions and applications may be found at http://www.jobs.virginia.gov.

You can also follow the Health District on Twitter @PrinceWilliamHD or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PrinceWilliamHealthDistrict.