Port Hardy's MLA says the decline of the community's hospital is putting people's safety at risk
North Island B.C. Conservative MLA Dr. Anna Kindy says under the direction of Island Health and the NDP government, a "fully functioning hospital in an isolated community has turned into an urgent care centre."
"I worked in that hospital in the early 90鈥檚 when it was a fully functioning hospital," she wrote in a March 24 post on her social media page. "Now the hospital is filled with long term care patients waiting for placement and there are no acute care admissions. The hospital has become an emergency department only except the emergency department closes at 5 p.m. for close to two years.
"This is putting people鈥檚 lives at risk."
The Port Hardy hospital lost its 24/7 service roughly two years ago due to the staffing shortages afflicting rural health care centres in B.C., and across Canada. The hospital currently operates seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
When the emergency department closes, patients have to travel to Port McNeill Hospital, about a 30-minute drive down the highway.
Kindy followed that with another social media post on Friday, April 11 reiterating her earlier concerns.
"An eight-year-old girl with severe asthma recently almost died trying to get to [the] closest functioning hospital," she wrote. "Others have not been so lucky."
She said she asked the Minister of Health twice if she would commit to reopening Port Hardy as a fully functioning hospital, meaning "a 24/7 emergency department and admissions to acute care beds."
"The Minister of Health would not commit," she said. "The community of Port Hardy deserves better."
Island Health responded to Black Press Media follow-up questions to Kindy's posts with a written statement.
"Island Health remains committed to resuming 24/7 emergency department services in Port Hardy and we are continuing to focus significant efforts on that goal," the organization said. "While there are currently no specific timelines, we are exploring increasing the hours the emergency department in Port Hardy is open."
Island Health noted the recent addition of physicians to the community saying that is an "important step towards further stabilizing and enhancing local services. However, physician coverage is not the only limiting factor to reinstating 24/7 emergency department services."
The organization confirmed it is working to recruit and train other clinical staff required for stable 24/7 emergency services, including emergency department certified nurses and laboratory staff.
"We are seeing success with local solutions like Island Health鈥檚 Rural Emergency Department Education Program (REDEP) to train nurses locally. Two registered nurses graduated from the program in August and are now working in North Vancouver Island. An additional five are expected to graduate in 2025 (three in April, two in October).
"Patients are being admitted at Port Hardy hospital and there are currently three local physicians providing care for in-patients, when deemed clinically safe and appropriate. The work of these dedicated local physicians, alongside our care teams, is also supporting patients to be transferred back to the North Island region more quickly, if they are initially taken to another hospital for a higher level of care."
"Whenever there are serious patient safety events in our hospitals, Island Health鈥檚 clinical teams document them and investigate what happened. North Vancouver Island clinical leadership reviewed recent Patient Safety Learning System entries and consulted with frontline staff and partners, but did not find a formal record of a recent safety event involving a child with asthma.
"People are encouraged to contact Island Health鈥檚 Patient Care Quality Office if they have concerns about the care they or a loved one received. This ensures all care complaints are documented and receive a formal response."
