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ER closures in BC Interior on track to double this year compared with 2023

(UPDATE: Dec. 4 at 5 pm): The health minister, Josie Osborne, has responded to NowMedia's story on emergency room shutdowns in the Interior, insisting that her government is "working to address the issues that are causing these closures."

She said ER closures are "hard on communities and hard on people."

"This is partly about health-care worker shortages that we know is a global issue, but we also know that the lack of access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner causes people to rely on emergency rooms more," she added.

“That is why we are working to bring new doctors and nurse practitioners into the province through fair pay, better conditions and faster credential recognition, and we are also focused on training more health-care workers here in British Columbia."

<who> Photo credit: BC Government </who> The new minister of health, Josie Osborne.

She acknowledged, however, that the province has "more work to do."

“We are working closely with health authorities to hire more staff, to expand recruitment incentives for health-care workers, and to add resources to the ambulance system to ensure there is a timely response for when people need care. These actions are all part of making sure that care is available for people in British Columbia, when they need it."

She concluded: "Our government is fully committed to the task.”


(Original story: Dec. 4 at 1 pm): Interior Health has revealed how many times its emergency departments have been forced to shut down this year.

As of Nov. 20, according to the health authority’s calculations, there have been 127 closures so far in 2024.

In 2023, there were 66, again according to Interior Health.

Those “service interruptions” were due to “a variety of reasons,” Interior Health said, including staff sicknesses and unfilled vacancies.

Below is the full list of closures:

  • Oliver: 37

  • Williams Lake: 18

  • Lillooet: 22

  • Merritt: 19

  • 100 Mile House: 10

  • Clearwater: 8

  • Arrow Lakes: 5

  • Creston: 1

  • Grand Forks: 1

  • Kaslo: 1

  • New Denver: 5

There have been complaints about ER shutdowns for years, with opponents of the BC NDP government, mayors and even MPs calling for the situation to be fixed.

In July, the mayor of Merritt, Michael Goetz, said “we’re in complete freefall” and claimed the NDP government did not have a plan for solving the crisis.

He also said that “people have come close to death because of an ER closure” and has even billed the provincial government for closures.

Goetz was interviewed by NowMedia during the reign of Health Minister Adrian Dix, who was moved over to the environment file following the NDP’s narrow election triumph in October.

Dix repeatedly said the problem was part of a national struggle to recruit health workers. But he said BC was still “doing better than everyone else” and indeed “crushing Alberta” when it came to attracting staff.

Premier David Eby, meanwhile, has said the key to solving the staffing crisis is to speed up the licensing process for workers who move to BC from another province or overseas.

Late last month, Oliver Mayor Martin Johansen – whose town has seen the most closures in the Interior this year – said he was looking forward to seeing the re-elected NDP government “walk the talk” on emergency departments.

According to Interior Health’s figures, emergency services have been unavailable at South Okanagan General Hospital 37 times so far this year. NowMedia has previously reported 40 closures. (Interior Health said the discrepancy is caused by its public service announcements, which are sent out in advance of closures but are not retracted if a closure is averted.)

Johansen told NowMedia that Oliver was “still struggling to keep the ER open.” He added that the “number one barrier” to attracting health workers to Oliver was housing.

“I'm definitely hoping with a new cabinet that we get a more of a focus on rural health care,” he said.

Interior Health, which provided the figures to NowMedia, said nobody from the authority was available for interview.

But in a statement, Interior Health said it “appreciates the impact service interruptions have on patients” and stressed its commitment to “providing access to sustainable emergency services.”

“We remain focused, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, to address staffing and medical staffing challenges,” the statement reads.

“Unfortunately, there are times and for a variety of reasons such as general vacancies, short or longer-term leaves, and sick calls – when we cannot safely provide emergency department services.”

The authority added that work schedules are prepared “many weeks and months in advance,” with its teams seeking to fill vacant positions “right up until the shift is scheduled to start.”

The majority of “gaps” in shifts, Interior Health explained, are ultimately filled, thereby preventing “many closures.”

“Interior Health is committed to ongoing efforts to recruit more permanent staffing and working with our communities to make sure the world knows how beautiful it is to work in the Interior region of BC,” the statement says.

Interior Health also explained that it no longer reveals the reason for ER closures “to protect the safety and confidentiality of our staff and physicians.” It had previously said that, for example, a lack of doctors or nurses was to blame for a closure.

NowMedia has requested a statement from the Ministry of Health, or an interview with Minister of Health Josie Osborne, about the crisis in the Interior. NowMedia had previously asked, repeatedly, for an interview with Dix, but was never granted one.



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