Temporary changes to the Emergency Department hours at the 100 Mile District General Hospital were in affect over the weekend.
Interior Health had announced that Emergency Services would not be available from Saturday night at 7 until Sunday morning at 7 due to limited nursing availability and that patients could access care the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.
In an email response from Interim Director, Clinical Operations Cariboo/South Cariboo, Karen Cooper stated:
“The service interruption in the 100 Mile District General Hospital Emergency Department on Saturday February 24 was due to a late notification from a staff member that they would be absent, not because of ongoing staff shortages. At present, there are no vacant nurse positions in the 100 Mile District General Hospital Emergency Department.”
Cooper added “We recognize the impact changes to medical services have in a community and we take every step possible to prevent them. This includes redeploying staff from different departments and hospitals, pulling in nurses from contract agencies and many other efforts. Unfortunately, we were unable to backfill or secure alternate coverage for the shift on Saturday night.”
During that time all other inpatient services continued as normal.
“We are grateful for the local physicians, nurses and other staff who work to maintain medical services in 100 Mile House and across the Interior region, and we recognize how important local emergency department services are for people in 100 Mile House and surrounding communities,” Cooper said.
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