The emergency room at Delta Hospital will be closed overnight Saturday because of physician shortages for the fourth time this year. Read More
The temporary closure will start Saturday at 6 p.m. and go until Sunday at 6:30 a.m.
The temporary closure will start Saturday at 6 p.m. and go until Sunday at 6:30 a.m.
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The emergency room at Delta Hospital will be closed overnight Saturday because of physician shortages for the fourth time this year.
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Fraser Health says the temporary service interruption will start at 6 p.m. and the ER will reopen at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
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The health authority says this is to ensure patients already in the emergency department can be seen by a physician before they end their shift at 1:30 a.m.
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During the service interruption, emergency-trained nurses will continue to be on site and available to support walk-in patients needing basic care and help patients with urgent needs get a transfer to a neighbouring hospital.
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Anyone with a life-threatening emergency, such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or severe bleeding, should call 911 immediately and will be transported to the nearest available and appropriate facility.
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This service interruption impacts the ER only and all other services at Delta Hospital are available, Fraser Health said in a news release Saturday.
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Anyone with non-urgent health-related questions can call the Fraser Health Virtual Care at 1-800-314-0999 to speak with a registered nurse from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. or call B.C.’s nurse line at 811. There’s also the Fraser Health crisis line at 1-877-820-7444.
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Dylan Kruger, a Delta city councillor, said an ER closure is not an operational issue but a public health emergency.
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“A city of more than 110,000 people has been left without access to emergency care in its own community, for the fourth time in the same year,” he said in a statement Saturday.
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“The responsibility for this failure rests squarely with the B.C. government. Delta residents deserve dependable, 24-7 emergency services. The province has known about these staffing and capacity issues for years, yet here we are again. Another night, another closure.”
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Kruger said Delta council requested a meeting with Health Minister Josie Osborne during last week’s UBCM to discuss the urgent issue of ER closures but she did not take the meeting.
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“I am tired of issuing calls for the province to step up. I’m tired of asking the province to take responsibility and fix what is clearly broken. I am tired of feeling a complete lack of confidence in our healthcare system,” he said.
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