Emergency Operations Centre activated at Surrey Memorial Hospital

In response to a barrage of questions about Surrey’s beleaguered hospital, B.C.’s minister of health told reporters that an Emergency Operations Centre was activated at the site on Wednesday afternoon.

In response to a barrage of questions about Surrey’s beleaguered hospital, B.C.’s minister of health told reporters that an Emergency Operations Centre was activated at the site on Wednesday afternoon. 

An EOC is an internal alert level that authorizes managers to bring on extra staff and use various resources to expand operations in order to meet soaring patient demand, which is typically only done in exceptional circumstances like the remarkable surge in sick patients as they did earlier this during the brutal respiratory season.

“We established an emergency operations centre (then), we'll be doing that today at Surrey Memorial Hospital,” said Adrian Dix, who met with obstetricians and emergency room doctors earlier in the day at Fraser Health’s headquarters.

CTV News pointed out the flurry of meetings and statements came after doctors’ concerns had been ignored or downplayed for months and they went public with dire warnings, asking Dix if it was time for a change in approach or even leadership at the province’s biggest health authority.

“There are issues to address as we emerge from the pandemic,” he responded, going on to voice full-throated support for Fraser Health's CEO, Dr. Victoria Lee, who’s been at the helm as the province has invested in hospital resources in Surrey. 

“The new contract (with hospitalist doctors) has taken too long, but it was partly due to our work in the pandemic,” Dix said. “We're doing a lot of work, these are part of many significant efforts to address concerned raised.”

Dr. Claudine Storness-Bliss, who blew the whistle on an infant death and “countless close calls” in the underserved obstetrics unit of the hospital earlier this week, attended a meeting with Dix Wednesday morning where she says he acknowledged the “crisis situation” around the province, but especially at SMH.