3 health-care facilities closed Saturday due to lack of staff in B.C. Interior

Interior Health has announced three temporary, last-minute closures of health-care facilities in the last 24 hours because of limited staff availability.

On Friday, the health authority announced temporary closures at the South Similkameen Health Centre in Keremeos and the Slocan Community Health Centre in New Denver.

The Keremeos facility will be closed to walk-ins from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday due to "unexpected limited nursing availability," Interior Health said, adding that patients with urgent needs would be redirected to Penticton Regional Hospital, about 40 minutes away.

The emergency department at the New Denver facility will be closed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday "due to limited staffing availability," according to the health authority. Patients are advised to head to Arrow Lakes Hospital in Nakusp, about 35 minutes away.

On Saturday morning, Interior Health added the South Okanagan General Hospital emergency department to the list. "Limited physician availability" is the reason given for closing that facility in Oliver from 6 p.m. Saturday night to 8 a.m. Sunday.

South Okanagan General Hospital's emergency department is usually open 24 hours a day, according to Interior Health, which directed emergency-room patients to Penticton Regional Hospital instead.

"People in the community who need life-threatening emergency care (i.e., chest pains, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding) should always call 911 for transport to the nearest available and appropriate facility," the health authority said in each closure announcement.

The closures come as Interior Health apologizes for confusion at another hospital within its jurisdiction, where a sign was put up earlier this week saying: "The emergency room is closed unless patient is imminently dying." 

Questioned by the Official Opposition about the sign in Williams Lake this week, Health Minister Adrian Dix stressed that the emergency department was, in fact, open, and said the government is reviewing how the sign was put up.

BC United leader Kevin Falcon said the incident highlights cracks in the health-care system.

“Even if it’s a disgruntled employee that is so fed up that they can’t manage basic emergency services at the hospital – that’s telling you, that’s like a five-alarm fire,” said Falcon.