Northern Health nears 700 hours of northeast B.C. ER closures after three diversions in November
Northern Health reported three emergency room closures in communities across northeast B.C. in November due to “staffing challenges.”
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Northern Health is closing in on 700 hours of emergency room closures in northeast B.C. this year after three were announced in November.
The Fort Nelson General Hospital emergency room closed once, for 11 hours from approximately 8 p.m. on November 8th to 7 a.m. on November 9th, and the Dawson Creek and District Hospital closed its emergency room for 10 hours from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on November 6th.
The Chetwynd General Hospital emergency room closed for around five hours, from 11:50 a.m. to 4 p.m. on November 8th.
Northern Health stated ‘staffing challenges’ were to blame for all the closures in its various social media post announcements.
In October, emergency rooms in northeast B.C. closed four times in Chetwynd, Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek for a total of just under 38 hours.
So far this year, Northern Health has reported 42 emergency room closures in Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge, amounting to more than 600 hours.
Northern Health has been struggling with healthcare short-staffing dating back to 1974, and this month, Energeticcity.ca exclusively revealed how many specialist doctor vacancies had been open for the last decade.
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