This story is part of Situation Critical, a CBC British Columbia series reporting on the barriers people in this province face in accessing timely and appropriate health care.
(CBC)
British Columbia’s health care system is experiencing historic pressures as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and staffing shortages, which have led to numerous service reductions and emergency department closures. mostly in rural areas.
CBC News independently verified data tracking emergency room closures across the province, as well as diversions and maternity unit closures.
We found that hospitals in the interior of British Columbia experienced the most emergency department closures this year, and hospitals that announced reduced services were closed for an average of more than 16 hours. Most of these closures were outside the province’s major urban centers.
However, no community was more affected than Clearwater, an area 120 kilometers north of Kamloops with just over 2,300 residents.
The emergency department of the hospital Dr. Helmcken Memorial in Clearwater was closed for a total of 375 hours this year, a total of more than 15 days. Four emergency room closings have been announced this week alone.
“In the height of the tourist season, when the locals are doing whatever they like to do, which usually involves power tools and things that take your fingers off and things like that, it’s a big challenge for the locals,” Clearwater Mayor Marilyn Blackwell said Tuesday.
“I know of multiple … incidents where people either waited for the ER to close and came after it, or they went to Kamloops and waited hours and hours and hours.”
Blackwell said the community is also home to workers from the Trans Mountain Pipeline, further straining health care resources.
Almost all hospital closures are due to staff shortages, a recurring problem during the pandemic.
Blackwell said he has had positive discussions with provincial leaders about bringing more workers to Clearwater. But given that most of the hospital’s emergency room closings have occurred since April — nearly once a week since then — he said he’s concerned about the summer.
“My biggest concern is that it stabilizes,” he said. “I think help is on the way in a big, focused way from Interior Health. This is a change I really haven’t seen in the [a] a year and a half.”
Interior Health said in a statement that it is actively recruiting additional staff in Clearwater and beyond.
“Human resources challenges are occurring in every sector right now, and healthcare is not immune,” they said.
“When we make the difficult decision to close a rural emergency department, patient safety always comes first.”
Daybreak Kamloops7:59 Clearwater ER closures continue; The mayor says there is progress
Clearwater’s mayor is counting how many times the hospital has been closed this year. He scores 21 times so far.
Most closures occur on the weekend
In June, Crystal Mundy, a British Columbia psychologist, created a website tracking hospital closings in the province. CBC News has independently verified data on the site, referring to notices on health authority websites and closure announcements.
“It seems that outside of health care, which is an area I work in right now, a lot of people really don’t see or understand the big picture,” Mundy said. “I thought there was a very direct need for some sort of centralized data service to show people what was going on.”
The data shows that hospitals in British Columbia cut services most often on weekends, with average closing times of more than 16 hours. The single longest closure was a 36-hour period at Ashcroft Hospital inland in April.
Mundy said the fact that the province does not make information about hospital closings and service cuts readily available shows lack of transparency.
She also said the concentration of closures in rural areas was emblematic of long-standing underfunding for areas outside urban centres.
“That’s a factor in that difference in power that we get,” she said. “That, sometimes, reluctance to encourage resources in rural areas and that divide that we see.”
In a statement, British Columbia’s Ministry of Health said it has protocols in place to ensure patients requiring emergency care are treated promptly.
“All health authorities continue to aggressively recruit for vacancies to ensure that diversions become less frequent in the future,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Additionally, the real-time virtual support service launched in 2020 helps keep rural and remote emergency departments open. The service gives nurses, nurse practitioners and doctors access to virtual support from emergency room doctors.”
Continued closures in communities
While many of the closures and service reductions in British Columbia hospitals have been temporary, some communities have had to deal with closures that are indefinite or last several months.
This includes the diversion of the maternity ward at Lady Minto Hospital, on Salt Spring Island, which is expected to last until mid-August, and the indefinite closure of the hospital wing at Boundary County Hospital in Grand Forks, in the southern interior.
Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor told CBC News the community has yet to have an emergency involving the hospital ward.
But he also said Interior Health has not told him when the hospital will be fully operational.
“Our community has been working very hard with Interior Health to look at things like housing and how we can better bring people into our community,” he said. “But this is not a short-term solution.
“At this stage, I don’t believe money is the only issue. I think we have other issues to deal with.”
In an emailed statement, Interior Health said recruitment efforts for Boundary County Hospital are ongoing.
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