Outpatient lab in Sidney, B.C. closes temporarily due to staffing shortages

Island Health has temporarily shuttered an outpatient lab in Sidney, B.C. in order to ensure “reliable, consistent” acute and outpatient lab services in the midst of a staffing shortage.

The satellite location on James White Boulevard closed on June 13 and is expected to reopen on June 30, and resume normal operations by July 4.

“We acknowledge the inconvenience of this temporary change and appreciate people’s patience as we work to support acute and outpatient services,” the health authority wrote in a Sunday news release.

No one at Island Health was available for an interview on this story, but in a written statement, it said it faced a “national shortage of trained lab staff.” The staffing issue was “unforeseen,” it added, and encompasses the North Saanich-Sidney area.

“This (temporary closure) will enable staffing to be consolidated to nearby Saanich Peninsula Hospital (SPH) to ensure reliable, consistent outpatient lab services in the area, while also supporting critical acute inpatient lab services at SPH,” it wrote.

Booked appointments already made at the Sidney Satellite lab will take place at the Saanich Penninsula Hospital on the same time and date, said the health authority. Anyone else with outpatient lab service needs is asked to book at the hospital or LifeLabs location in Sidney.

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According to B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, between 8,000 and 9,000 health-care workers missed one day of work per week or more prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of last week, however, that number was nearly 16,000.

“At sites where there is a limited number of staff, it can be profoundly affected by a few changes and we have to consolidate,” he said Monday in Comox. ”

That’s what happening in Sidney. The service will continue; we’re providing alternate services that are available in that community.”

Service disruptions have occurred throughout B.C. since the Omicron variant hit the province, he added. To help cope, the province has added 30,000 additional staffers to the health-care system in the past two years, he said.

In an interview, Todd Stone, Official Opposition House Leader, said the “system is collapsing” and British Columbians “deserve a plan.”

“To see a health authority in and of itself shutting down components of the system that the health authority is responsible for, such as an outpatient lab, is very concerning, but consistent with what we’re seeing across the entire health care system.”