Staff sick days causing B.C. ER closures during heat wave: health minister

B.C.'s health minister said multiple emergency room closures in the Interior this past weekend were unavoidable due to an above-average number of health-care workers calling in sick.

Multi-day closures in Merritt and Williams Lake occurred as the province was being hit by a heat wave that sent temperatures soaring. Environment Canada issued dozens of heat warnings, saying conditions pose "a moderate risk to public health."

Adrian Dix, asked about these closures, said the province has a number of measures in place to prevent them including incentives to fill shifts and locum programs – but those systems aren’t nimble enough to respond to a surge in last-minute sick calls.

"We don't believe diversions are a good thing. We're doing everything we can to avoid them," he said.

"When there's a late sick call – and that's not a criticism of anyone for calling in sick, when you're sick you're supposed to call in sick – it creates real challenges in the system."

In recent weeks, Dix said there have been an average of 20,000 workers out sick, a number he said is high enough that it "presents problems." While he did not say how that number compares to recent averages, he did note that absences averaged about 9,000 per week pre-pandemic.

Interior Health, in a statement, told CTV News an emergency room is only closed when every other option is exhausted.

"There are times when other factors limit our ability to cover some shifts – unplanned leaves or short-notice sick calls," a spokesperson wrote in an email.

When the emergency room in Merritt is closed, patients are told to go to Kamloops' Royal Inland Hospital, which is about an hour away by car. In Williams Lake, patients are told to go to an ER in one of three other communities – all of which are more than an hour away if driving.

Patients are also urged to call 911 in the case of a "life-threatening emergency" so they can be transported by ambulance to the "nearest available and appropriate facility."

Dix acknowledged that ambulance response times have been a problem in rural communities but said there have been improvements on that front, in part due to a change to the paramedic staffing model.

Still, Dix said, he understands the frustration and alarm among patients, residents, and local politicians.

"I know that it absolutely is fundamental to confidence in the community that the emergency room be open," he said.