Mission Memorial Hospital’s emergency department will be closed overnight due to a physician staffing shortage. Fraser Health announced the temporary service interruption in a news release, with the change in effect from 5 p.m. on Sunday (May 31) to 8 a.m. on Monday (June 1). According to the release, patients already in the emergency department can be seen by a physician before they end their shift at 11 p.m. Emergency trained nurses will be on site to redirect or transfer patients with urgent needs and
support walk-in patients needing basic care. Fraser Health said the interruption impacts the emergency department only and all other services at the hospital are available. “All other Fraser Health emergency departments remain open and have emergency physicians on site; however, high numbers of people seeking care and human resources challenges at many of our hospital emergency departments may lead to longer wait times for patients with non-urgent care concerns,” the release reads. The emergency department closed overnight last Monday at 5 p.m. (May 25) until
Tuesday morning (May 26). The department also experienced 51 consecutive nights of reduced hours that started in March. “We recognize how important consistent access to emergency care is for the Mission community and we are actively working to address physician staffing gaps as they arise to maintain service continuity. We are continuing to make every effort to recruit more staff and prevent further service interruptions,” Fraser Health said. In January 2024, the emergency department flooded and an $18 million restoration and expansion of the E.R.
is under construction. Work is expected to finish by spring of next year. Any future “service interruptions” will be communicated to the community in advance, according to Fraser Health.
Mission Memorial Hospital, emergency department, overnight closure, Fraser Health, physician staffing shortage, emergency physicians, patient wait times, physician shift 11 p.m., emergency trained nurses, E.R. expansion, $18 million restoration, flooded emergency department January 2024
So they can’t staff it… but somehow the ER is still “open”? Make it make sense.
This is what happens when they don’t pay doctors enough. Overnight closures are gonna kill people who can’t wait for morning. 5 pm to 8 am is a long time when you’re in pain.
Wait so if you’re already there, they’ll see you before 11 p.m.? But then it “closes overnight” at 5 p.m. like every week?? Also it says last Monday it closed too, so is this just a regular thing now? I heard the flood messed everything up and now it’s just short staffed forever.
Only the emergency department closes but “all other services” are open, sure… so if your kid has something urgent you’re just supposed to hope it counts as basic care. They always say “longer wait times” for non-urgent stuff and that’s the stuff that becomes urgent later. Also $18 million restoration and expansion doesn’t sound like it fixed staffing, which is kinda the whole point.