More ER closures in B.C. this weekend

South Okanagan General Hospital is seen in this image from the Interior Health website.

The residents of some B.C. towns will have to travel to emergency departments outside of their communities if they need care this weekend, as staffing shortages continue to challenge hospitals.

Around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Fraser Health announced that due to a lack of physicians, the ER at Mission Memorial Hospital would not be seeing any new patients an hour and a half later, from 6 p.m. Saturday until 8 a.m. Sunday.

Fraser Health did not call the disruption a diversion or closure, rather classifying it as a “temporary service adaptation.”

Anyone already waiting in the ER by 6 p.m. will be seen by a doctor, but those needing urgent care after that time are being told to go to a different facility such as Ridge Meadows Hospital.

Through the night, emergency-trained nurses will be on site to provide “basic first aid, assist with re-direction of care, and/or transfer patients with urgent needs to a neighbouring hospital,” the health authority said.

Just over two weeks ago, on July 23, Mission Memorial became the first Vancouver-area hospital to turn away patients from its ER for a scheduled time, an issue that has been plaguing hospitals elsewhere in B.C. since the pandemic. 

Limited doctor availability shuttered the ER at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver at 5 p.m. Friday, and it is scheduled to reopen at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Interior Health told residents needing care to go to the Penticton Regional Hospital roughly 40 kilometres away.

In northern B.C., the Mackenzie and District Hospital ER closed at 3 p.m. Friday, also due to a physician shortage, and is scheduled to reopen at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, the ER at Chetwynd Hospital will be closing at 5 p.m. Saturday and reopening at 7 a.m. Sunday. Northern Health cited “nursing coverage challenges” as the reason for that interruption.

As always, the health authorities ask anyone with life-threatening symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or severe bleeding to call 911 for transport to the “nearest available and appropriate” facility.

Frequent “service disruptions” at ERs across the province have been a major concern this summer, particularly in smaller communities where the next-closest hospital can be hours away by car.

Last month, northeastern B.C. MLA Dan Davies described the “frustration and fear” among his constituents in Fort St. John, where the ER at the local hospital experienced closures seven days in a row.

He said there have been 150 temporary ER closures across Northern Health so far in 2024.

Also in July, the mayor of Merritt, another town in which the local ER often goes on diversion, sent the province a receipt for $84,000, asking for the government to give the city a credit for health-care costs.

"Had I taken money from somebody and not cut their lawn I would have been taken there by my ear and told – finish your job," Mike Goetz told CTV News at the time. "We shouldn't be paying for nothing — these are taxpayers’ dollars."