FSJ Hospital ER closed again May 9 – calls for action come from all quarters
Calls for something to be done at Northern Health are growing louder as Fort St. John’s hospital was put on diversion again last night, the third time this has occurred in two months.
The inability of Northern Health to find sufficient staff to man the emergency room in a hospital which, according to Northern Health’s numbers, serves 70,000 people in the region, is frustrating and disturbing to many in the area.
For area residents who rely on Fort St. John’s hospital for medical treatment, the next nearest hospital is in Dawson Creek, a 45-minute drive from the city. For residents of the Northern Rockies Municipality who must use Fort St. John’s birthing centre, as Fort Nelson Hospital doesn’t have one, the drive is even longer, 3 hours minimum to get to Fort St. John.
Dawson Creek Hospital has also experienced staffing issues and had to close its emergency room, forcing that community’s 12,000-plus residents to seek emergency care in Fort St. John.
According to Northern Health’s Regional Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations, Eryn Collins, Fort St. John Hospital’s ER coverage “is provided by a combination of local and locum physicians.”
The way physician staffing at Fort St. John’s ER works, is that family physicians take turns filling shifts in the ER. But Collins says not all of the doctors in Fort St. John take part in emergency room coverage.
While Northern Health says it’s continuing to “aggressively recruit among local and locum physicians and have recently identified additional local physicians with an interest in potentially providing emergency department coverage,” it’s becoming apparent to the population that they’re falling short. As evidenced by the need to close Fort St. John’s ER two weeks in a row, due to a lack of staff.
Peace River North MLA Dan Davies characterized the closures as “another failure by this NDP government that has let the residents of the North Peace down.”
The absence of advance notice from Northern Health has the potential to make a frustrating situation worse.
“We need to be patient-focussed and do what is best for them,” Davies said.
The first time Fort St. John’s hospital was put on diversion, Mayor Lilia Hansen said that Northern Health reached out to her to let her know what was happening, and BC Ambulance added more ambulances during the time the ER was closed, in order to make sure anyone in need could get to Dawson Creek for treatment.
“This time I found about it through social media,” said Hansen following the May 2 diversion.
In order to help address the concerns of residents, Hansen feels that elected officials need to be informed about these staffing shortages and diversions.
“We cannot continue to have this happen,” said Davies. “This is the second time we’ve had the ER closed in Fort St. John.”
Northern Health says that Fort St. John currently has 26 general practitioners, and three family practice/anesthesia physicians – a total of 29 family doctors. Twenty-nine doctors, for some 70,000 people in the region – including 23,000 in Fort St. John itself.
That’s 2,414 patients per doctor.
With such high patient-to-doctor ratios, many local doctors simply don’t have room in their practices to take on additional patients. So, people have no choice but to turn to the ER, and no option at all when the ER is closed.
Hansen adds that council is working hard to promote the community and encourage medical professionals, especially doctors to make their home in Fort St. John, to alleviate the clear shortage of doctors.
Medical clinics in Fort St. John are looking to hire additional family physicians, and Hansen confirmed that one new doctor, with ICU training will arrive in Fort St. John in the next couple of months.
Currently, Northern Health has six physician jobs posted on its website for Fort St. John. In addition to two family physicians, the health authority is looking for an Obstetrician Gynecologist, an Orthopedic surgeon, an Internal Medicine specialist, an Anesthesiologist, and a doctor trained in Emergency Medicine, as well as locum positions.
Davies believes that the problem goes deeper than a shortage of doctors, and for three years, along with other local politicians, has called for an independent third-party audit of Northern Health.
It wouldn’t be a witch hunt, Davies has said on several occasions, rather an opportunity to assess and find ways to make improvements in the health authority’s delivery of health care in the North.
Now, thanks to northern communities such as Fort St. John, Taylor, Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge, the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) plans to lobby the provincial government to “require a review of the structure and management of health authorities,” Davies said in the Legislature, prior to the latest diversion at Fort St. John Hospital.
“It’s broader than just Northern Health. We need to have those independent eyes looking at our health authorities.”
When asked by Davies, Health Minister Adrian Dix said that he has a different opinion of the situation. Citing the addition of childcare spaces and procuring housing for medical professionals in the North Peace, Dix said “we’re having a lot of success in Northern communities. It’s a credit to both Northern Health and the communities for the work that has been done.”
“Communities are working with Northern Health on joint recruitment initiatives,” he added.
Davies said that the health care situation in the north is not his opinion, adding that he knows the minister gets CC’d the same emails Davies receives from residents.
“It’s not a difference of opinion. I listed the municipalities that have called for this, that say things are critical. There are thousands of British Columbians across northern BC that are saying it’s not good,” said Davies.
“We do need to look at how things are being operated in Northern Health,” he said. “This needs to be an independent audit, to find out how we can do things better, that’s all we’re asking.”
Peace River North constituents took to social media following the announcement of the diversion. One member of the public suggested, on Davies’ social media post about the diversion, that the Health Services Administrator at the hospital work with the Minister of Health to ensure that emergency room doctors are on call province wide.
Residents of Fort Nelson noted that their emergency department has been shutdown numerous times, and that the nearest alternate hospital is located in Fort St. John.
“There is without a doubt a failure somewhere along the line. I’ve lived six decades, and I cannot recall ever seeing this sort of thing before,” said another one Fort Nelson resident.
Former Fort St. John Mayor Steve Thorlakson, told The Broken Typewriter that “It’s pretty obvious to me that the responsibility ultimately has to lay at the feet of the provincial government.”
“This time I found about it through social media,” said Fort St. John Mayor Lilia Hansen.
Although Dix says he believes the NDP and Northern Health are successful in addressing the issues, clearly childcare spaces are not the only practicalities preventing doctors heading to the North and remaining here to practice.
It’s not just the emergency room that is the problem, nor the inability of residents to find a family doctor. Fort St. John Hospital has also seen temporary closures of its maternity ward and operating room. Clearly, the problem is widespread and the NDPs penchant for throwing money at healthcare is not addressing the core issues.
In November, nurses rallied for improved working conditions in northern BC with the BC Nurses’ Union Northeast regional council member Danette Thomsen saying that it was “time for an all-hands-on-deck approach to solving the healthcare crisis here.
In the community medical settings outside the hospital, patients are being deferred to a later time, and aren’t being seen because they are able to divert their clients to another day.
“The problem is that they’re never catching up and so then, the nurses are saying that those clients are ending up in the ER. Which is only a revolving door cycle,” she said.
If there was a walk-in clinic in Fort St. John, Thomsen says it could address a lot of the medical reasons that are sending residents to the ER, like ear infections. Due to the shortage of both nurses and physicians, a walk-in clinic just isn’t possible.
To effect any real change, before decisions are made, Thomsen said government and health authorities need to talk to the front lines, who are the ones doing the work. “They can give the solutions that they need. Each department is different, from the education to the equipment that they need.”
The paramedics with BC Ambulance, doctors, nurses, and support staff are all doing their best, Davies said.
“But it doesn’t negate the fact that things aren’t working well in our health authorities. We’ve seen it time and time again, whether we’re talking about diversions or wait times for specialist appointments.”
“We need to be patient-focussed and do what is best for them,” Davies said.
Following the May 9 closure, Northern Health said that it continues to do everything possible to ensure medical staff coverage for upcoming shifts.
“Emergency rooms are only ever on diversion as a last resort when all options for coverage have been exhausted. We recognize the concern that emergency department service interruptions cause for community residents as well as the dedicated nurses, medical staff and other staff who provide care in Fort St. John.”