Lack of notice for ER closures frustrates northern B.C. residents

A northern B.C. family is speaking out after a local hospital temporarily closed its emergency department without notice — a problem that appears to be occurring repeatedly across the region.

When nine-year-old Kaley Moore fell and hurt her wrist Tuesday during a family vacation in Moberly Lake, around 120 kilometres southwest of Fort St. John, her family, fearing a broken bone, drove about 30 minutes south to the Chetwynd Hospital.

When they arrived they found a sign saying the emergency department was on diversion for the night, meaning arriving patients were being sent elsewhere.

"I was sad because it really hurt and I didn't want to wait any longer, especially because we were already there," Kaley said.  

The closure also came as a surprise and disappointment to her father, Doug Moore, who said in an interview with CBC News that he had checked Northern Health's online information and social media ahead of the drive for any ongoing diversions and found nothing.

The health authority is blaming the lack of notice, in part, on the challenge of having someone post news of closures to its Facebook pages, where residents have been directed to check for service interruptions.

Northern Health said in response to a complaint from the Moore family that they cannot always update information if the closure happens without notice or after hours.

In the end, Kaley was able to wait for the hospital to open and discovered she had suffered a sprain. But her family worries about what could have happened if her injury had been worse.

"We live in the north, so we understand that these things happen," Moore said of the diversion. 

"But when we take the steps to make sure the hospital is open … and especially when you've got a nine-year-old and it's 9:30 at night, she's already tired, she's in pain, she made the big decision to want to go to the hospital, it's not a great feeling."

Northern Health told CBC News that the "temporary, unplanned diversion" at Chetwynd Hospital lasted from 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m. Wednesday. The temporary closure was required because a nurse had to accompany a patient to Fort St. John, the health authority said.

The closest hospitals to Chetwynd are Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, both more than 100 kilometres away by road.

And there is no guarantee those ERs will be open, either. Last week, both emergency rooms had service interruptions at the same time, due to a combination of staffing shortages and high patient volumes, according to Northern Health.

The Moore family is not alone in their complaints about the lack of communications around diversions. 

In a Facebook group managed by Northern Health for Dawson Creek, a resident wrote in a July 3 post that people were showing up at the Dawson Creek Hospital at 3 a.m. only to find it closed. The health authority responded to the post saying that "there was no one available to post in the group after hours." 

The health authority said it is "challenging" to update those regional Facebook pages when a service interruption happens suddenly, unexpectedly or after hours. 

In its statement to CBC News, Northern Health also says it makes every effort to keep communities informed and asks those with life-threatening medical needs to always call 911. 

Beyond the issue of communications, a CBC News analysis shows ER diversions aren't unusual in rural B.C. 

Chetwynd, for example, issued at least 13 notices of temporary closure in 2022, and issued four in July 2023 alone. 

Elsewhere in the province, the Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt issued its sixth notice of a temporary ER closure this year on Thursday night. Earlier this week, Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz said he is fed up and will bill the province for these service interruptions.

Peace River North MLA Dan Davies said rural British Columbians deserve to be informed and to have access to emergency rooms. 

"It is absolutely unacceptable that people are put at risk," he said. "That this is happening more and more and more and it is almost a regular occurrence now, which is absolutely wrong."