Fort Nelson ER closed for second Saturday in a row

The emergency department at Fort Nelson General Hospital, in B.C.’s far northeast, will be closed most of Saturday due to a shortage of nurses.

ER services are unavailable between 4 a.m. and 7 p.m., Northern Health said in a notice to residents.

It’s the second Saturday in a row that the Fort Nelson hospital has had ER service disruptions. The department was previously closed from 4 p.m. March 23 to 7 a.m. March 24, also due to nursing staff availability.

“The timing of interruptions is subject to change, as we are continually working to ensure physician and nursing staff coverage for emergency department services,” both notices read.

Northern Health asks anyone in Fort Nelson or the surrounding area who is experiencing a medical emergency—such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or severe bleeding—to call 911 for transport to the “nearest available and appropriate facility.”

The next closest B.C. hospital to Fort Nelson is in Fort St. John, which is a four-hour drive away.

Other Northern Health hospitals have been similarly plagued by ER closures in recent weeks. The emergency department at the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital has been closed overnight, most nights, for over two weeks due to “challenges with physician coverage.”

When reporting on the closures in Prince Rupert earlier this month, the BC Nurses’ Union told CTV News it had serious concerns about working conditions in the region.

“Currently the working conditions for many nurses…they believe it's unsafe and they cannot provide the care that their patients require (in Northern Health),” said BCNU president Adriane Gear on March 20. “The moral distress that is created really has an impact on retention of staff.”

Northern Health’s interim vice president of clinical operations told CTV News at the time that nursing shortages had an impact, but the recent closures are also due to a spring break shortage of locum doctors brought in to rural and remote communities.

Angela De Smit also said the province’s new $30,000 bonuses for nurses who commit to working in northern B.C. will make a difference when they roll out in April.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Penny Daflos