ER closed overnight at BC hospital due to staffing challenge

A hospital in B.C.’s Fraser Valley is closing its emergency department at night for more than a week due to staffing challenges.

According to a news release from Fraser Health, Mission Memorial Hospital’s emergency department will operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Dec. 29 to Jan. 6.

The closures, it said, “reflect the systemic pressures being experienced across Canada.”

During that time, the hospital will have emergency-trained nurses who will assess incoming patients and provide basic care, as well as redirect them to a neighboring hospital if their needs are more urgent.

Dr. Paul Theron, medical director of the Mission Memorial Hospital site, said in the statement that the temporary closure is to “enable consistent and planned hours” while allowing the hospital to “align services with available staffing and maintain patient safety.”

Theron also says the hospital is working with the provincial health ministry “to stabilize long-term staffing.”

The closure marks the seventh time this year the hospital will be temporarily closed overnight.

In November, residents protested against the bandh When a temporary closure was announced sixth time,

Dr. Ralph Bayley, vice-president of medicine at Fraser Health, told CBC News the health authority is actively recruiting and noted that Mission Memorial Hospital’s emergency department is currently being renovated.

“We believe this will be a major factor in both recruiting and retaining physicians in the mission to provide emergency services,” he said.

Fraser Health announced earlier this month that four hospitals in BC Interior – three of which have emergency departments closed periodically due to staffing shortages – are launching a pilot program where patients needing emergency care can be seen virtually by an off-site doctor.