Delta, B.C., council writes letter to province over 'unacceptable' weekend ER closures
CBC
Delta council has written to the province after the Metro Vancouver community's emergency room was closed for two consecutive nights over the weekend.
Fraser Health said that the closure on Saturday and Sunday nights at Delta Hospital was due to physician staffing challenges.
Mayor George Harvie called an emergency council meeting on Monday night to discuss the ER closures, and councillors unanimously adopted three motions.
The first was to send a letter to Premier David Eby, Health Minister Josie Osborne and Fraser Health interim CEO Dr. Lynn Stevenson emphasizing the importance of the emergency department to the community.
The letter also sought information from the province and assurances that steps are being taken to ensure more closures do not happen.
"Twenty years ago there was a move to close the hospital, but we stood up as a community and fought that," said Harvie.
"And now here again, we're having closures at our emergency department, and we're going to stand up and fight to keep those emergency operations open."
The second motion invites Fraser Health representatives to the March 3 council meeting to provide a presentation to council and answer questions about how they plan to ensure adequate staffing in the future.
"We don't need summits and a whole bunch of studies," said Harvie. "Fraser Health should sit down with the hospital workers themselves — they're the ones that know what the problem is. They're the ones that will come up with solutions."
The final motion is for staff to come back to council with a resolution on the need for sustainable funding for emergency and urgent care health services throughout the province.
Harvie says he was also concerned about the minimal bus service to and from Delta, and the fact that there are often traffic incidents and delays.
"They did say to go to Surrey [ER], but when our staff checked the wait times, it was 18 hours," he said. "It's unacceptable. As mayor, and with the support of council, I'll be pushing very, very hard to ensure that this doesn't happen again."
Osborne says she has spoken with Harvie and looks forward to the letter but that the province is doing everything it can in the short and long term to keep the ER open.
"I know that Fraser Health has taken all of the steps they possibly could to try to avert this service interruption, and unfortunately, it was just unavoidable," she said on Tuesday.
Delta council has written to the province after the Metro Vancouver community's emergency room was closed for two consecutive nights over the weekend.
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