Rolling ER closures in B.C. hit crisis point: doctors’ group

So far this year, there have been dozens of emergency room closures across the province — from smaller, rural towns to the Lower Mainland.

The latest was in Delta this week, when, with very little notice, the ER was closed overnight after a doctor called out sick. The mayor called it “unacceptable,” and admitted he was “frustrated” by the situation.

He’s not alone.

Dr. Charlene Lui, president of Doctors of BC, tells 1130 NewsRadio that the system is beyond strained.

“We’re certainly at a crisis point for emergency rooms. The staff shortages for physicians, as well as nursing staff, have reached a point where it’s really not sustainable and keeping the emergency rooms open without any care gaps is a real challenge,” said Lui.

She explains the advocacy group wants to work with the Ministry of Health and the health authorities to figure out a solution. They’re proposing a province-wide emergency room stabilization plan.

“Because of challenges with human health resources and other things, if you try to improve one area without taking into account the other areas, it actually ends up pulling staff and resources from another community into the community that you’re trying to help. It destabilizes the whole province, so we really need a province-wide strategy to make lasting change.”

Lui adds that the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) has already agreed to work with Doctors of BC to stabilize the health authority.

“The hope is the health authority assessments that the ministry is embarking on will also help, but it does require a collaborative effort for sure.”

Despite the slow pace of fixing any problems, Lui feels their concerns are being heard by the provincial government.

As for frontline health-care workers, she says there’s a lot of frustration and concern about the level of care being provided.

“Physicians are feeling a great deal of moral distress. It’s very difficult for them to provide care when one: there are staffing shortages, so there’s not enough physicians to staff emergency rooms 24/7, and also: the general resources are in short supply in a lot of areas. So, that makes it very difficult for them to provide the kind of care that they want to provide for their patients. Also, the transport systems in rural communities. If the patient is sicker than that small community can manage, they need to transfer them out to larger centre, but the access to transport is a challenge.”

She says that while trying to treat an increasing number of patients, doctors are burnt out.

“They’re finding it very difficult to provide care because often times, they feel like they’re going above and beyond and past really what’s sustainable, and they raise red flags to administration that sometimes they feel unheard. And it may not be that they’re unheard, it’s just that change is slow, and we need change to happen much quicker.”

Lui doesn’t want people to think they won’t get the care they need, but admits the ER closures will likely continue.

“Patients are certainly our top priority. People don’t need to be scared that they can’t receive the care that they require; it’s just that it’s difficult to keep the emergency rooms open.”

In this year’s B.C. budget, the provincial government promised to spend $4.2 billion for health care over the next three years, including hundreds of millions to connect people to family doctors and $870 million on opening and operating new facilities. Despite the injection of cash, the system continues to be in desperate need of a lifeline.

—With files from Srushti Gangdev