FORT ST. JOHN -- Northern Health is advising residents that emergency department services at the Fort St. John Hospital will be unavailable between 2:00 p.m. Thursday May 9th until 5:00 a.m. on May 10th .
The hospital is dealing with challenges with physician coverage, according to Northern Health.
“People in Fort St. John and area who need life-threatening emergency care should call 9-1-1 for transport to the nearest available and appropriate facility,” said Northern Health in a statement.
Northern Health says the emergency department will be the only service interrupted by Tuesday's doctor shortage.
The Birthing Centre, surgery suites, and ambulatory clinics will not be impacted.
The diversion comes on the heels of five back-to-back overnight emergency department closures at the Chetwynd Hospital due to a shortage of nurses.
MLA Dan Davies told CJDC-TV that he has been calling for an independent audit of Northern Health for the past few years.
"We need to find out where the problems are, we need to look into what are the issues out there, first of all within Northern Health," said Davies.
The MLA for Peace River North is also demanding that Health Minister Adrian Dix do more to address the staffing shortages in Northern B.C.
