UBC Hospital emergency room closing early for the foreseeable future
Due to mounting pressures on staff, the emergency department at Vancouver's UBC Hospital will be scaling back its hours starting Tuesday.
The doors will close at 8 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. every night, the health authority announced in a statement issued Monday.
"Increasing patient arrival volumes, especially at the end of the day, has meant that staff and medical staff at UBC Hospital ED are routinely working well beyond their scheduled shifts into the early hours of the morning to deliver care to those who arrive at the hospital in the late evening," wrote Dr. Ladan Sadrehashemi, the senior medical director of acute care for Vancouver Coastal Health.
"The uncertainty of not knowing the last shift end time is creating burnout and loss of medical and other staff within the ED healthcare team and is not sustainable.”
VCH described the move as "temporary adjustment" although no end date for the change in hours is specified. Patients requiring urgent care are being advised to go to other hospitals in the city.
"Work is underway to identify interim and long-term options for managing patient volumes at UBC Hospital," the statement from VCH says.
The announcement is the first of its kind in Vancouver but smaller communities in B.C. have been dealing with closures and reduced hours at emergency rooms for months.
Premier John Horgan has described the province's health-care system as "teetering" with persistent staff shortages and a dire crisis in family medicine among the most pressing issues. However, he has also said similar issues are being seen across the country and that a fix is impossible without a significant investment from the federal government.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.