More than 800 hours in seven months: An overview of Northern Health diversions in the northeast

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Northern Health reported more than 800 hours of hospital closures throughout northeast B.C. between July 2024 and January 2025.

In the seven months between July 2024 and January 2025, Northern Health announced 53 service interruptions in five communities throughout northeast B.C.

Throughout the seven-month period, the health authority announced 53 diversions of emergency room services in Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd.

Of those 53, 52 were diversions of services at emergency rooms, and one was the birthing centre at the Fort St. John Hospital.

Northern Health identified the reasons for most of the individual service interruptions to be challenges with physician and nursing coverage, with most of the closures announced minutes before, or even after, the emergency room closed.

The closures totalled more than 832 hours, with the District of Chetwynd alone accounting for 402 hours. 

All closures announced by Northern Health were posted to the hospital specific Facebook pages, which is the only way the health authority currently alerts the public about medical service diversions. 

Northern Health reported the largest number of emergency room closures in July, when 22 were announced through the various Northern Health-operated Facebook pages. 

Only one closure at the Dawson Creek and District Hospital in early July was not announced, with Northern Health stating later nobody was available to “post in the Facebook group after hours”. 

Closures in July accounted for more than 317 hours of emergency room diversions throughout the northeast, with the Fort St. John Hospital’s birthing centre closed for 67 hours from July 19th to 22nd. 

In August, eight closures amounting to 107 hours combined were reported across the region. 

In September, there were four closures reported by the health authority for a total of 52.5 hours. 

Northern Health announced three closures in October, with emergency services diverted from Fort St. John, Fort Nelson and Chetwynd for 52 hours throughout the month. 

Northern Health announced six emergency department closures in November and five in December. 

Accounting for almost half of the emergency room diversion hours, Chetwynd General Hospital closed 27 times during the seven-month period between July 2024 and January 2025 for a total of 402 hours. 

Since July 2024, Northern Health announced at least one closure in Chetwynd was due to patient acuity and volume, and other incidents were stated to be due to staffing challenges. 

The hospital in Fort St. John closed for the second most hours, 195 hours over 12 closures between July 2024 and January 2025. Eleven were emergency room diversion due to physician or nursing shortages, and one was due to staffing shortages closing the birthing centre. 

During the same timeframe, the Dawson Creek and District Hospital closed eight times for at least 121 cumulative hours, with one closure lasting an unknown number of hours due to a lack of announcement. 

Fort Nelson General closed for 85 hours over five instances of emergency room closures from July 2024 to January 2025, and the Tumbler Ridge Health Centre only closed once for 29 hours in July. 

During the January 9th regional board meeting, the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) board of directors spoke at length about emergency room closures being announced only on social media. 

Since July 2024, the PRRD had been sending weekly letters to Provincial Premier David Eby, then Health Minister Adrian Dix and the MLAs of Peace River North and Peace River South requesting Northern Health advertise service interruptions more clearly and without ministry interference. 

Many directors expressed ongoing concerns for their residents and desires to continue the weekly letters. 

While the board voted to stop the weekly letters, a new letter was sent in its place; an invitation to Northern Health CEO Ciro Panessa to attend a board meeting in 2025 to provide an update on the health authority’s progress on its strategic plan. 

Panessa previously accepted an invitation to the board, but did not attend despite being listed in the agenda as a member of the Northern Health delegation. 

Energeticcity.ca contacted Northern Health for comment, but it did not provide a response to this article by publication time.

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