After an emergency ward closure due to a physician staffing shortage was averted at Peace Arch Hospital just before the start of the long weekend, Fraser Health reported Monday the ER remained open.
"All emergency physician shifts at Peace Arch Hospital were filled for the B.C. Day long weekend, and the emergency department remains open and available to the community," said Cathy Wiebe, executive director, White Rock/South Surrey and Delta Health Services and Peace Arch and Delta Hospitals, in an email, noting the ER saw average patient volume throughout the weekend.
"We are grateful to physicians throughout our region and beyond who have been taking on extra shifts and travelling to cover gaps and support our hospital," Wiebe said. "We also thank our staff and medical professionals at Peace Arch Hospital, our community partners, and our networks for their dedication and support."
The closure, which was set to start at 4 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 2 and continue until Saturday, Aug. 3 at 7 a.m. – more than 24 hours – was cancelled by Thursday evening, as noted in a Facebook post by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation.
"The diversion, which was scheduled to begin on Friday, August 2nd at 4:00 a.m., is no longer set to take place," the post said. "Fraser Health has assured us that we now have adequate physician coverage to continue providing full Emergency Department services at Peace Arch Hospital."
BC United Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford and Dr. Claudine Storness-Bliss, a Surrey-based doctor and the BC United candidate for Surrey-Cloverdale in the upcoming provincial election, were sounding the alarm about the potential closure Thursday (Aug. 1), saying the health authority was "scrambling" to get the shifts covered.
Halford noted that the B.C. Day long weekend is usually one of White Rock's busiest, with the annual Sea Festival and Semiahmoo Days festivities attracting many to the city.
"This is one of White Rock's busiest weekends as we host people from all over. ... We're welcoming everyone to White Rock, yet we're on the verge of closing our ER," Halford said Thursday. "At what point are (Fraser Health and health ministry) going to communicate with the public that we are hours away from this happening? It's one thing to be incompetent, but it's another to hide it from the public."
By Thursday evening, Fraser Health said all emergency physician shifts had been filled for the long weekend, preventing the ER closure. The health authority also noted health-care worker shortages "around the world, across Canada and here in B.C. are impacting health-care systems – especially in maintaining continuous service in emergency departments."
On a local radio talk show Thursday morning, Storness-Bliss pointed out that ERs are being shut down in communities across the province, including Merritt, Williams Lake, Fort St. John and, most recently, Mission.
"We saw this last week with Mission Memorial having to close the emergency room overnight for one night – that's unacceptable. What's even worse is that this information wasn't made public," she said. "You have to try to make it public, so people know not to waste their time trying to go to an emergency room that's closed."
