This story is part of Situation Critical, a CBC British Columbia series that reports on the barriers people in this province face in accessing adequate and timely health care.
(CBC)
BC’s health care system is experiencing historic pressures as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and staff shortages, which have led to numerous service reductions and emergency room closures, mainly in rural areas.
CBC News has independently verified tracking data for ER closures across the province, as well as maternity diversions and closures.
We found that hospitals inside BC have experienced the most ER closures this year, and hospitals that announced reduced services closed for more than 16 hours on average. Most of these closures occurred outside the main urban centers of the province.
No community, however, has been more affected than Clearwater, a district 120 miles north of Kamloops, with just over 2,300 residents.
Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater has closed its emergency department for a total of 375 hours this year, more than 15 days in total. Only four emergency closures have been announced this week.
“In the middle of the tourist season, with locals doing all the things they like to do, which usually include power tools and finger-pulling things and the like, it’s very difficult for locals,” the Clearwater mayor said Tuesday. Merlin Blackwell.
“I know of multiple … incidents where people waited for the ER to close and then came in, or went to Kamloops and waited for hours and hours and hours.”
Blackwell said the community is also home to Trans Mountain Pipeline workers, which puts more pressure on health resources.
Almost all hospital closures have been attributed to staff shortages. a recurring problem throughout the pandemic.
Blackwell said he had positive discussions with provincial leaders to attract more workers to Clearwater. But considering most hospital ER closures have occurred since April, almost once a week since then, he said he is worried about the summer.
“The biggest concern for me is that this will stabilize,” he said. “I think help is on its way in a big, focused way by Interior Health. This is a change I haven’t really seen in [a] year and a half or so “.
Interior Health said in a statement that it is actively hiring additional staff at Clearwater and beyond.
“Human resource challenges are currently occurring in all sectors and healthcare is not immune to that,” they said.
“When we make the difficult decision to close a rural emergency department, patient safety is always first and foremost.”
Daybreak Kamloops7: 59 Closures continue at Clearwater ER; The mayor says progress is being made
The mayor of Clearwater has been counting how many times the hospital has been closed this year. Calculate 21 times so far.
Most closures occur over the weekend
In June, Crystal Mundy, a BC psychologist, created a website to track hospital closures in the province. CBC News has independently verified site data, referring to notices on health authorities ’websites and closure announcements.
“It seems that outside of healthcare, which is an area I’m working on right now, a lot of people don’t see or really understand the picture,” Mundy said. “I thought there was a very direct need to have some kind of centralized data service to show people what’s going on.”
The data showed that BC hospitals reduced services more often on weekends, with an average closing time of more than 16 hours. The longest closure was a 36-hour period at Ashcroft Hospital inland, in April.
Mundy said the fact that the province does not make information on hospital closures and service reductions easily accessible a lack of transparency.
He also said the concentration of closures in rural areas is a symbol of the lack of funding for years for areas outside urban centers.
“It’s a factor in that power differential we get,” he said. “This is sometimes the unwillingness to encourage resources in rural areas and this division that we see.”
In a statement, the BC health ministry said there were protocols in place to ensure that patients requiring emergency care are treated in a timely manner.
“All health authorities continue to aggressively recruit vacancies to ensure that diversions are less frequent in the future,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“In addition, the real-time virtual assistance service, launched in 2020, helps keep rural and remote emergency rooms open. The service offers nurses, nursing professionals and doctors access to virtual support. of ER doctors “.
Ongoing closures in communities
While many of the closures and service reductions at BC hospitals were temporary, some communities have had to deal with indefinite or multi-month closures.
This includes the maternity referral from Lady Minto Hospital, on the island of Salt Spring, which is expected to last until mid-August, and the indefinite closure of the hospital ward of the Boundary District Hospital in Grand Forks, south of the interior.
Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor told CBC News that the community has not yet experienced an emergency situation with the hospital ward.
But he also said Interior Health has not told him when the hospital will be in full operation.
“Our community is working very hard with Interior Health to look at things like housing and how to better attract people to our community,” he said. “But this is not a short – term solution.
“Right now I don’t think money is the only problem. I think we have other problems to deal with.”
In an emailed statement, Interior Health said recruitment efforts are underway for Boundary District Hospital.