More emergency room closures hit B.C. this weekend

As has frequently been the case this summer and for the last few years, the weekend began with emergency department closures at multiple hospitals around B.C.

For the fourth time since it became the first hospital in the Vancouver area to turn away patients from its emergency room, Mission Memorial Hospital implemented a "temporary service adaptation" Friday night.

In the provincial Interior, South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver closed its emergency room at 1 p.m. Friday afternoon and reopened at noon on Saturday, while Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt closed its ER at 6 a.m. Saturday and was not scheduled to reopen until 8 a.m. Sunday.

Mission Memorial's "service adaptation" began at 10 p.m. Friday and ended at 8 a.m. Saturday.

During that time, nurses remained on site "to support walk-in patients needing basic first aid, assist with redirection of care, and/or transfer patients with urgent needs to a neighbouring hospital," according to a statement from Fraser Health.

"Physician staffing challenges" meant patients arriving at the hospital for urgent care after 10 p.m. were advised to seek care at a different emergency department.

"We appreciate your patience and support as we address these Health Human Resource challenges and thank our staff, medical staff and BC Emergency Health Services staff for their commitment to providing quality care," the health authority said.

While alternative emergency room facilities in the Lower Mainland are often close by, patients turned away from ERs in the Interior often have to travel an hour or more for treatment.

Interior Health advised patients in Merritt to travel to the emergency room at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops during the Nicola Valley Hospital closure. The two facilities are 84 kilometres apart.

During the South Okanagan General Hospital closure, patients were advised to travel to Penticton Regional Hospital, which is 40 kilometres away.

Both health authorities noted that anyone with a life-threatening emergency should always call 911 to receive treatment at the appropriate facility as soon as possible.

Emergency room diversions due to lack of staff have become a frequent occurrence at many B.C. hospitals in recent years.

Last month, the president of the Doctors of BC’s Section of Emergency Medicine told CTV News that the reasons for the shortages are complex, but boil down to several factors: lack of government planning and government downplaying of warnings that training space is insufficient; a new contract for family doctors that lured physicians away from hospitals and back into primary care; and a culture shift in which doctors are backing away from gruelling 60-to-80-hour workweeks for better work-life balance.

“Now we're in this hole where we're trying to patch it and move forward,” said Dr. Gord McInnes, at the time.

“It's led us to a point where it's really hard to provide the service we usually provide and it's inefficient and hence the waits increase, the frustration level increases.”

• Read more: Doctors speak up: What's behind waits and closures at B.C. emergency departments 

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Penny Daflos