Emergency services at Kitimat hospital suspended for 2 days in B.C.'s latest ER closure

Residents of Kitimat, B.C., will have no access to emergency services at their local hospital for the rest of the business week, the regional health authority says.

In a release, Northern Health said the emergency department at Kitimat General Hospital would be closed Thursday through Friday due to challenges with physician coverage.

The authority could not say exactly when the department would reopen. A spokesperson recommended residents look to Northern Health's Kitimat Facebook group for updates.

Communities across British Columbia have seen the suspension of hospital emergency services caused by staff shortages this year, including multiple facilities in the Interior Health region earlier this week. 

Kitimat General Hospital suspended emergency services for a few days this summer due to challenges with physician staffing.

The closures in July prompted the circulation of a petition among locals calling on Northern Health to recruit more health-care workers to keep the hospital's emergency department open 24/7.

That petition has gained more than 1,200 signatures in a community with about 8,200 residents.

CBC has contacted Northern Health for information on where residents can go if they need emergency services.

Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace, about 50 kilometres to the north, has an open emergency department.

Mike Howlett, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, said he understands there are staffing issues at emergency departments across the country right now, but unplanned closures are hard to take.

"It creates a fear in our communities and society and frankly for the lack of planning it should have been an unnecessary fear — but this is where we find ourselves," said Howlett.

He said a lack of physicians and nurses is a particular issue in smaller communities, and many emergency room departments in larger communities are experiencing "tremendous crowding."

"For too long, the system has been planned on the basis of efficiencies — and these so-called efficiencies have actually meant cutting back on resources, so that ... the ability of our system to be resilient and recover has been lost," said Howlett.

Potential help from physician assistants

Last month, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. proposed a bylaw change that could allow physician assistants to work in provincial emergency rooms and ease staffing pressures.

A physician assistant is a medical professional that works under the supervisor of a physician. While they do not possess a medical degree, they are educated through a two-year graduate program under the same medical model used to train doctors.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said the ministry and the college worked together to make the change, which will give patients better access to services while supporting other health-care workers.

But this will take time.

The ministry said in September it's estimated between 30 and 50 physician assistants live in B.C., and only three programs across the country offer the two-year training.

Northern Health said in its statement that it is continually working to ensure physician and nursing staff coverage and the interruptions in the coming days can be adjusted.

The health authority says anyone in the Kitimat area who needs life-threatening emergency care should call 911 despite the temporary closure.