Operating hours may become leaner for the Emergency Room at the Similkameen Valley’s only hospital.
Interior Health is proposing shutting down the Princeton General Hospital ER between midnight and 8 a.m., four nights a week as of May 1st.
“Providing consistent emergency service… has become increasingly challenging,” says an IHA release on the changes. “The situation has recently worsened due to the fact several of the locums we usually rely on are unavailable and one of our local doctors is no longer able to provide full emergency coverage as of April 1st.”
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Coverage is planned for daytime, evening and weekends, which the IHA says are the busiest times at the Princeton ER.
Under the proposal, ambulances will continue to be on standby adjacent to the hospital during the closures and a telephone would be installed in the entrance with a permanent connection to 911.
Interior Health hopes to have a long term solution to keep the Princeton ER open worked out in a year.
Doctor shortages in Princeton have been an on-going issue for the IHA for many years.
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