Port McNeill ER closed overnight until Sept. 12
Posted September 9, 2022 6:05 pm.
Last Updated September 9, 2022 6:10 pm.
A B.C. hospital on Vancouver Island is shutting its emergency department (ED) overnight until Sept. 12 due to staffing issues.
Island Health says in a statement the Port McNeill Hospital ED will be closed from 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 until 7 a.m. Monday, Sept. 12 due to “limited staff availability.”
They say anyone who needs the ED should instead go to Port Hardy, around 40 kilometres away.
“During this time of Emergency Department closure, all other inpatient services will continue as normal at PMH,” says an Island Health statement.
They add that they have “protocols in place to ensure patients are transported to the appropriate site.”
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Last week, multiple ED’s in the Interior were closed.
Clearwater’s ED was closed 6 p.m. on Sept. 3, until 7 a.m. the following morning
As well, Interior Health said emergency services in Ashcroft would not be available Sept. 2 to 4.
Last month, New Denver Mayor Leonard Casley told CityNews staffing shortages and closures are not new for small towns in B.C.
“To every small ER in the province, they’ve been run on such a shoestring that as soon as one person goes, it puts it in crisis,” he said.
“You know, the capacity was never built into the system. It was actually taken out of the system, over years of cuts, and here we are.”
