Mission hospital shuttering emergency room overnight due to staff shortage

Mission Memorial Hospital’s emergency room will be closed overnight Saturday.

Fraser Health announced Saturday afternoon that the ER will be shuttered from 6:30 p.m. Saturday until 8 a.m. Sunday due to a shortage of staff.

“The service interruption will begin at 6:30 p.m. to ensure all patients already in the Emergency Department can be seen by a physician before they end their shift at 11:00 p.m.,” the health authority said.

During the closure, emergency-trained nurses will be available to assist walk-in patients needing first aid or transfer patients with urgent needs to another hospital.

“All other Fraser Health Emergency Departments remain open and have emergency physicians on site; however, high numbers of people seeking care and human resources challenges at many of our hospital emergency departments may lead to longer wait times for patients with non-urgent care concerns,” Fraser Health said.

Other departments in the hospital are unaffected.

This isn’t Mission Memorial’s first overnight ER closure this year; Fraser Health announced a similar closure Feb. 15.

Many other emergency departments have had staffing issues in recent months. Merritt, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, and Lillooet, among other communities, have seen temporary ER closures overnight or over entire weekends due to a shortage of medical personnel.