Interior Health CEO says 'tremendous' recruitment efforts being made to avoid temporary ER closures

Photo: Castanet

Susan Brown, CEO of Interior Health, said vacancy rates are decreasing as the health authority tries to tackle ER closures.

The CEO of Interior Health says the health authority is seeing its staffing vacancy rate decline as it steps up efforts to avoid temporary emergency department closures.

“We have made tremendous efforts in recruitment, and with local leadership and physicians to try and minimize these wherever possible,” Susan Brown told the IH board during a Wednesday meeting.

Temporary emergency room closures have plagued hospitals in smaller cities and rural areas, including Merritt — which saw a service disruption as recently as last weekend.

Last year, Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz sent a $103,000 bill to Victoria, seeking compensation for the City of Merritt for the days the hospital ER was closed, and for expenses spent on city firefighters attending medical calls during the closures.

Hospital emergency departments in Clearwater, Oliver, 100 Mile House, and Lillooet have also seen temporary ER shutdowns in recent months.

Brown told the board such closures are an “absolute last resort.”

She said IH is seeing its vacancy rate come down, but they need to continue to focus on domestic and international recruitment to ensure positions are filled at each site to prevent future disruptions.

“Good news that the vacancy is coming down, but we still have some work to do,” Brown said.

“[We] just want our communities to know we’re really trying hard in this area, and doing everything we can to mitigate by using locum pools of physicians, and we’ve got some dedicated resources from other agencies or GoHealth BC to try and bolster our clinical teams.”