Dix announces $30M for north Island health; Port Hardy ER to remain closed overnight

Port Hardy and Cormorant Hospital emergency departments will remain closed overnight until more resources are secured and services improved with $30 million in new funding, Health Minister Adrian Dix said Friday.

Regular hours will be restored as soon as possible, but having set hours in the meantime will stabilize the situation and let patients and families know where and when emergency services are available, Dix said. The hiring of two new physicians in Port McNeill last year eased shortages there, but Port Hardy’s emergency department has lost physicians, resulting in increasing overnight and weekend closures — the ER has been closed 25 per cent of the time since October. Cormorant Hospital in Alert Bay has seen similar overnight closures. Last week, Port Hardy physician Dr. Alex Nataros said as of July 1, he will become the only ER doctor in the town of 4,000.

“We’ll have housing that people will want to live in and we’ll be able to retain a health-care workforce there that is stable and safe for the longer term.” Island Health said it will also add new 24/7 mental health and substance-use services such as additional sobering and assessment centre beds to increase access to supportive care and reduce emergency department admissions.

Babchuk maintains the actions announced Friday will address immediate challenges in the area and start the work of modernizing and improving health care for north Island residents for years to come. The physician-assistant issue, however, has muddied the waters for Island Health, which has been working on a plan for the region for almost a year, as well as the Health Ministry, which only just announced in November it will create a new health-worker designation called “associate physicians.”

Dix said there is no single solution to the health-care staffing crisis on the north Island — just a number of steps in a short, medium and long-term plan.

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