Northern Health restores virtual clinic after more than 24-hour outage

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Virtual services have been restored at Northern Health after more than 24 hours. 

As of 12 p.m. on August 26th, the Northern Health Virtual Clinic resumed regular operations after a technical issue paralyzed the service for more than 24 hours. 

The outage was first announced by Northern Health at approximately 10 a.m. on August 25th, and problems persisted throughout the night and into the morning of August 26th. 

The issue stemmed from a lack of access to the clinical information database, which left the virtual clinic unable to book or take appointments from patients. 

Now that services have been restored, the clinic said in an updated version of the original Facebook announcement that it would be contacting all the patients who missed appointments due to the outage to rebook them. 

At approximately 11 a.m. on August 26th, Northern Health also cautioned residents of “higher than usual patient volumes” leading to longer wait times in various departments at the Fort St. John Hospital and emergency department. 

Residents requiring emergency medical attention are still encouraged to call 911 or visit their local emergency room.

Energeticcity.ca would like to speak to patients in northeast B.C. who were impacted by the outage. If you wish to share your story, contact us at 250-797-7100 or contact@energeticcity.ca.