Two rural Vancouver Island hospital emergency rooms have been closed overnight for the foreseeable future, after months of labour shortages created intermittent shutdowns.

On the same day, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh concluded a week-long tour of Vancouver Island communities with a stop in Victoria, where he called for healthcare workers to be better compensated and shown more respect.

The Port Hardy and Alert Bay emergency rooms will only operate during daytime hours while the province and Island Health work on recruiting people to staff them. There is no timeline for when the North Island emergency departments will return to full service.

“We want to do it as soon as we can, but it's not going to be weeks, it’s going to be longer than that,” said health minister Adrian Dix after being asked twice for a targeted return to service date during the announcement Friday afternoon.

In the meantime, Dix and Island Health CEO Kathy MacNeil promised that the Port McNeill emergency department—which has also closed overnight several times in the past year—will stay open 24/7.

The health authority also promised to establish a daily shuttle service between Port Hardy and Port McNeill hospitals—a 30 minute drive apart—and shuttles to Campbell River and Comox Valley for both staff and patients. No such service was announced for Alert Bay, which is connected to Vancouver Island by ferry.

Dix also announced renewed efforts to recruit staff, like paying higher wages and arranging better accommodations for healthcare workers who travel to the communities.

A shortage of nurses and doctors has caused these hospital ERs to shut down overnight more than a dozen times in the past year. Friday’s announcement was the first time the province and Island Health announced concrete steps to alleviate the “evolving state of crisis” the North Island has been in since at least Aug. 2022, as reported by Canada’s National Observer.

The publication learned, through leaked documents, that Island Health has been aware of the need for shuttle services between the rural communities since at least last summer. From Port Hardy, the closest option for diagnostics like CT scans is a 2.5 hour trip away in Campbell River, which puts a strain on ambulances.

While the health authority promised to add CT scan services and other upgrades to the Port Hardy and Port McNeill hospitals, they did not specify when these upgrades would be implemented.

‘This idea of respect’

After discussions with constituents and healthcare workers in Duncan, Nanaimo, Comox Valley, and Campbell River, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh made a stop at a coworking space in Victoria to discuss his findings.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be meeting with premiers on Feb. 7 to hash out a healthcare funding deal. One of the biggest topics of discussion as Singh has made his way across the Island ahead of the meeting has been a lack of access to doctors, long emergency room wait times, and healthcare workers seeking better workplace conditions.

“One of the themes that came up from healthcare workers was this idea of respect,” Singh said. “I think it's important for us to create a climate where healthcare workers can talk about what's not working, and we listen to them about how we can fix those problems. We need to respect them by making sure they can be compensated appropriately, respect them by listening to their concerns, and value them by making sure they're at the table when we're making decisions.”

For years, Capital Daily has heard from healthcare workers about a culture of secrecy within Island Health that prevents them from publicly talking about their experiences.

In March 2022, we published the stories of Vancouver Island nurses who spoke anonymously about constant mistakes in their payment, an unregulated nurse-to-patient ratio, their fear for patients’ safety as staffing levels remain dangerously low, and a lack of adequate mental health coverage in their benefits plan.

Two months later, BC Nurses Union Vice President Adriane Gear spoke out on behalf of nurses who fear being disciplined at work if they talk publicly. In some cases, she said, nurses were instructed by managers to withhold even from patients and their families that they were working short-staffed.

Recently, CHEK News reported that an Island Health survey taken by 11,000 employees found staff feel the organization does not value their employees and pointed to issues with the health authority’s senior leadership.

Island Health stated, in an emailed response to Capital Daily on Friday, that the health authority regularly meets with union leaders, and that employees have several avenues to voice their concerns.

“Hearing from those who work at Island Health is crucial to us in order to support the needs of the people and communities who rely on us for health and care,” they said in their statement.

In Port Hardy, the emergency department will soon have just one doctor—one who has been speaking up about the crisis situation in the region.

Dr. Alex Nataros shared on social media that he will be the sole ER physician in the rural community after two doctors leave, and has been asking the province and Island Health for a physician assistant to help him, according to CBC.

Hiring physician assistants was not a part of the announcement on Friday. According to Dix, it’s an idea being considered by the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

“It's not impossible, it’s not an idea we’ve rejected, it’s an idea we’re working through,” Dix said.  

Island Health also said they will add long-term care beds in Port Hardy, expand 24-hour mental health and substance use services, and establish more CT scan services and other upgrades to the Port Hardy and Port McNeill hospitals.

Details like the number of beds or the expected timeline for any of these upgrades and expansions were not shared on Friday.