The Emergency Department at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake was closed this past weekend from Sunday night into Monday morning at 7.
In the past when advisories have come out Interior Health included when the closures would begin.
Executive Director of Clinical Operations, Thompson-Cariboo, Karen Cooper said typically they do for unexpected gaps in their staffing level, that they usually get more advance notice so that a start time can be included.
However, Cooper said in this instance the notification came quite late and was the difference between being open and being closed and by the time the messaging came out they were already beginning their service interruption.
With the long weekend ahead, we asked Cooper if plans are in the works now to avoid any possible closure.
“Ahead of any long weekend and in the three most popular ones in the summer we do that, predictable staff forecasting and really looking to leverage both across our own Health Authority as well as across the province to ensure that our Emergency Departments are able to maintain services levels on a busier time.”
Cooper noted that she thinks there’s been a vast improvement in August over July at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital and that’s because a lot of strategies that are in motion are starting to pay dividends.
Cooper said there are three new Physicians joining this (August) and next month as well as three new nurses.
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