Bathurst residents will see a temporary slowdown of services at Chaleur Regional Hospital in late December. According to a Vitalité Health Network public notice dated Dec. 19, 2025, the network plans a holiday slowdown scheduled to run approximately Dec. 23, 2025, through Jan. 6, 2026. The notice says elective surgeries, non-urgent outpatient clinics and some laboratory services will be paused while the emergency department remains open for urgent care.
Vitalité says the holiday reduction is intended to manage chronic staffing pressures and allow frontline workers time off. Internal reporting shows nurses at Chaleur logged about 26% more overtime compared with the previous year. The network has recruited more than 100 international nurses systemwide, but staffing gaps persist.
Chaleur Regional Hospital is also facing capacity challenges related to alternate-level-of-care (ALC) patients — people who no longer require acute hospital care but cannot be discharged because there are no long-term care placements available. Dr. France Desrosiers, president and CEO of Vitalité Health Network, has said roughly 47% of beds at Chaleur have been occupied by ALC patients. The hospital has previously reduced services because of staffing pressures; for example, phlebotomy (blood-work) hours at Chaleur were reduced in September 2024.
Patients with non-emergency concerns are advised to use virtual options such as eVisitNB or to call Tele‑Care at 811 for health advice. Those needing in-person care for urgent-but-non-life-threatening problems may consider nearby emergency or urgent-care departments such as Tracadie or Caraquet, subject to local capacity and hours of operation.
Vitalité’s public notice includes an apology for any inconvenience and thanks the public for their cooperation. Elective procedures are expected to resume once regular staffing levels are restored in early January, but the network has been asked to confirm the exact resumption date.
