Merrit ER expecting 30 closures over the next 3 months: mayor

After emergency room closures continue to sweep across the Interior, the mayor of Merritt says he has potential information on closures in the upcoming months.

Mayor Mike Goetz says he knows of a health-care worker with unofficial documentation that shows the total number of ER closures for this year is set to jump to around 46, from 19 last year.

“I’ve asked Susan Brown, the president of the IHA (Interior Health Authority), to have a look at these dates, let me know what’s going on and what we can do to avoid it,” Goetz said.

“We are looking at significant closures over the next three months, close to 30, and we need to know what we, as a community, can do to help with this.”

Goetz says the situation is not getting any better.

In an email to 1130 NewsRadio, the Interior Health Authority says during the provincial election period they are limited in the information that can be provided.

“We can say that Interior Health works to fill vacant positions right up until the shift is scheduled to start. Schedules are worked on many weeks and months in advance. In instances where community staff can not fill all shifts, we immediately look to find coverage to fill those gaps. The majority of gaps are gradually filled preventing most closures,” the health authority said.

The IHA says in each situation it considers all its available options that include overtime, vacation callbacks, or shift extensions to fill shifts. It says it also looks at voluntary redeployments from other health-care sites, positions, or departments, and also looks into bringing in external nurses and locum physicians.

“Staffing projections weeks or months in advance are fluid and changing in real-time given we are successful in covering the vast majority of unfilled shifts,” IHA said.

It says service interruptions are the last resort when all their avenues to safe staffing are exhausted.

–With files from Anthony Atanasov.