Northern Health surpasses 500 hours of closures this year

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — From emergency rooms to the virtual clinic, a variety of Northern Health-operated medical services closed during August. 

Emergency rooms closed four times during the month of August across three northeast B.C. communities. 

The month prior, emergency departments in Dawson Creek and the District of Tumbler Ridge closed for a total of three times. 

In Fort Nelson, the emergency room closed twice last month, once on August 3rd between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m., and again from 4 p.m. August 20th to 7 a.m. on August 21st. Both closures were due to “unexpected staffing challenges” and amounted to 29 total hours.

The District of Chetwynd suffered its 16th closure of the year, with Chetwynd General Hospital closing for nine hours from 8 p.m. on August 12th to 5 a.m. on August 13th, also due to “staffing challenges.” 

The Dawson Creek and District Hospital also closed once during August, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on August 21st, with “staffing challenges” also being cited as the reason for the closure. 

Additionally, the birthing centre at the Fort St. John Hospital also closed during the month for 16 hours, from 4 p.m. on August 7th to 8 a.m. on August 8th. 

While a Facebook post was not published warning the public of the closure, the health authority said it contacted individual patients and notified the emergency department at the Fort St. John Hospital. 

On August 25th, Northern Health announced an outage of the Northern Health Virtual Clinic, which began at approximately 10 a.m. on August 25th and did not conclude until 12 p.m. on August 26th.

So far in 2025, emergency and birthing departments across the region have closed 30 times for a total of 533 hours.