Delta ER still needs vacant shifts filled: Fraser Health

The Fraser Health Authority says the emergency department in Delta could potentially close again after a weekend of overnight closures made waves in municipal and provincial governments.

Fraser Health says it’s still in the process of filling vacant shifts in its ERs for this coming weekend — including one at Delta Hospital.

The ER at Delta Hospital closed for two nights in a row, starting Saturday, Feb. 22, due to a doctor shortage.

Delta Mayor George Harvie said Saturday was the first time in his 20 years of public service in the city that the emergency room has had to close for something other than COVID-19.

Harvie says it “doesn’t give the people of Delta confidence” that medical care will be there when they need it. He wants the province to build an urgent and primary care centre in his community.

“It’s really interesting – in Delta, we always seem the be the very last to get things but urgent and primary care centres have been established and they’re working extremely well,” said Harvie.

The city called an emergency special council meeting to fast-track resolutions about closures, and the subject arose in provincial Legislature Monday when BC Conservatives criticized the governing BC NDP’s approach to health care.

The issue of staffing the ER at Delta Hospital came up during a public meeting held by Fraser Health’s Board of Directors in Surrey, with the Chair Jim Sinclair telling the meeting staff are doing everything they can to ensure access to health care.

Sinclair says it’s committed to ensuring shifts are filled and services are available to Delta residents.

“Obviously none of us wished or wanted what happened last Saturday and Sunday night in Delta.”

During the meeting, staff outlined progress on improving health care in the health authority, including the hiring of more than 500 new physicians over past two years.

The meeting marked the first since President and CEO Dr. Victoria Lee suddenly stepped down earlier in February. The Leader Spirit later asked the board chair why she left.

“It was an agreement — a mutual agreement, as we’ve reported in the press already — and it was a decision after a discussion that it was time for a leadership to change and bring in some new perspectives, new ideas and a new view of the future and this was a timing we thought was appropriate,” said Sinclair.

Despite the vacant shifts this weekend, Fraser Health says it’s not planning a service interruption at this time, adding it’s able to fill shifts and prevent closures 99 per cent of the time.

—With files from Charles Brockman