The facility, which is supposed to be open 24 hours a day, closes at 6pm from August 11 and reopens at 7am the following day. On Friday, the Department of Health announced that the nominally “temporary” closures would continue for another week. The latest closures will take place on the nights of August 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, September 1 and September 2, according to the health authority, which says “limited availability of nurses” is to blame. When the emergency department in Clearwater is closed, patients are taken to either Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops or 100 Mile House District General Hospital in 100 Mile House. Both of these facilities are more than 100 kilometers from Clearwater by road. Interior Health says other inpatient services at Dr. Helmcken Memorial is not affected by the ER closure. Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell has been an outspoken critic of the closure. On Twitter on Friday, he described the combination of emergency department closures and understaffing of the province’s ambulance service as “playing Russian roulette with people’s health”. Almost every aspect of BC’s health care system is currently experiencing staff shortages. Emergency departments across the province have been forced to close or reduce hours because they don’t have enough doctors or nurses, and health authorities are increasingly turning to for-profit nursing offices to fill nursing shortages. The province’s paramedic union has also warned that available vehicles remain empty because there are not enough workers to staff them. Family physicians have also struggled with recruitment and retention. Earlier this week, the provincial government announced $118 million in funding to help GPs with overhead costs and keep clinics open while the Ministry of Health and Doctors of BC negotiate a new payment model for primary care . BC Premier John Horgan was quick to point out that the issues facing the province are playing out across the country. He and other premiers have pushed the federal government to provide more funding for health care. But opposition parties in BC say the provincial government can and should do more to address the situation.
