The Vancouver Island community of Port McNeill has scheduled an online community forum with the local health authority, as its hospital faces a string of disruptions due to staffing shortagees.
Mayor Gaby Wickstrom said the latest incident was a “service reduction” rather than an outright emergency department closure. She said from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday, ambulances were being diverted to the Port Hardy emergency room 30 minutes away, but that the Port McNeill ER remained open to walk-ins.
“Of course its concerning. It’s becoming a little bit more regular. So we’re unsure what that means, hopefully its not every weekend. But definitely our residents are concerned,” she told Global News.
“It’s economies of scale. In a larger centre if 10 staff are missing but there’s 200 all together, there isn’t as big an impact. For us, if there’s two or three missing it can be 50 per cent of the staff.”
Last weekend, the Port McNeill hospital was forced to close its ER for 12 hours due to a nursing shortage. In March it also closed for 12 hours due to a doctor shortage.
Wickstrom said the planned June 16 forum was intended to help explain the various disruptions to residents, while allowing them to put questions directly to health authority officials.
The forum will also be recorded for residents to watch afterward.
“What we’re hoping is that it will be something people can refer to when they’re unsure, they’ll be able to listen again and understand exactly what’s the difference between a diversion, what’s the difference between a closure,” she said.
The Port McNeill service reduction comes amid reports of staffing issues at facilities across Vancouver Island, the Interior and B.C.’s north. Last weekend Clearwater was also forced to close its ER due to “unforeseen limited staffing availability.”
On Thursday, the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital temporarily moved people out of its ICU into its High Acuity Unit “due to COVID-19 activity within the ICU … and temporary staffing challenges.”
The unit has since reopened after being deep cleaned, and the hospital’s ability to provide critical care was not affected, the health authority said.
“Island Health, like all health authorities in B.C., continues to see a higher than normal number of staff being off sick,” Island Health said in a statement.
“This presents ongoing challenges and clinical leadership continues to balance staffing across units to ensure the continued provision of safe patient care.”
The province’s NDP government has faced mounting pressure over a shortage of family doctors and staffing issues in urgent and primary care centres and hospitals.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix says the province has added more than 600 new seats in nursing schools to try and address the staff shortage, and is working with physicians on a more comprehensive plan.
“Were working with doctors of bc to deal with issues of retention of current doctors and recruitment of current doctors,” Dix told reporters Thursday.
For now, Wickstrom said her community is working with both Island Health and the province to try and find ways to attract health-care workers to her community.
“What is it that is hindering people from coming here, is it housing, is it daycare, what are some of the things?” she said.
“This problem we’re facing right now is not going to be solved overnight. So we’re going to continue to have these. So how can we navigate through this so our residents are safe, and they get the healthcare they deserve?”
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