MUHC closes 6 beds in cancer ward due to staffing shortages

The new MUHC super hospital is shown in Montreal, Sunday, April 26, 2015, on its first day of opening. A massive hospital move is underway in Montreal today as patients are being transferred from the Royal Victoria to the newly-built "superhospital." THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Six beds at the cancer ward at the MUHC Glen site have been closed due to staff shortages, CTV News has learned.

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the closures in the oncology department happened last week after patients were discharged. This brings the number of beds open to patients down to 24 from 30. 

"Labour shortages resulting in bed closures are affecting the entire health-care network, and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is no exception," wrote spokesperson Bianca Ledoux-Cancilla in an email.

This loss of beds comes as the province is trying to lure nurses who went into private health care back into the public system.

The MUHC says in the email that it will ensure that patients are "treated by the appropriate teams" through other kinds of services, and that the centre is "actively" trying to recruit clinicians and staff to reopen the beds, as well as others that were closed in recent years.