BC announces $7.5M to 'stabilize' emergency care in Merritt, Oliver and Salmon Arm

After suffering dozens of emergency department closures over the past 10 months, the hospitals in Merritt, Oliver and Salmon Arm are receiving a funding boost to “stabilize physician emergency-room coverage.”

On Wednesday, BC’s Ministry of Health announced $7.5 million in permanent funding for the Nicola Valley Hospital, Shuswap Lake General Hospital and the South Okanagan General Hospital.

Since January 2022, shortly after reopening after catastrophic flooding hit the town in fall 2021, Merritt’s emergency department has faced over 25 overnight or multi-day temporary closures due to limited physician or nursing availability.

Since December 2022, the emergency department in Oliver has faced more than 20 temporary service interruptions.

“BC, like all jurisdictions in Canada, is facing recruitment and retention challenges that were exacerbated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing toxic-drug crisis and the rising number of patients with complex health-care needs, and we know that these challenges are more prominent in rural and remote communities,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health.

The province made the commitment for Merritt and Salmon Arm on Oct. 10 while the Oliver funding was approved on Sept. 29.

According to a release from the province, Interior Health is working on three service contracts for emergency services which are meant to recruit more physicians in rural communities.

The new contracts will compensate physicians for time spent at the hospital caring for people with complex and/or time-intensive needs, the Ministry of Health explains.

This will move away from the fee-for-service payments model, where physicians are paid based primarily on the number of patients they see in a day.

“We’re pleased to be moving forward with new compensation models for physicians in our rural communities,” said Susan Brown, president and CEO, Interior Health.

“This is another step forward to stabilizing health services for rural residents as it will support our recruitment efforts going forward.”

According to the province, the new contracts build on short-, medium- and long-term efforts being made to stabilize emergency care services in these three communities.

That includes temporary compensation support, work to attract and recruit more registered nurses and exploring team-based models to better support hospital teams.