Mission Memorial ER closes overnight due to staffing shortage

Mission Memorial Hospital's emergency department will close overnight Sunday, June 14, starting at 5 p.m., reopening at 8 a.m. Monday due to physician staffing challenges.

Patients who arrive before 5 p.m. Sunday will be seen by a physician by 11 p.m. Those arriving after will be treated by emergency-trained nurses on site who can provide basic care, assist with care redirection, or transfer urgent patients to nearby hospitals. Anyone with a life-threatening emergency — chest pain, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding — should call 911 immediately; B.C. Emergency Health Services will transport them to the nearest appropriate facility.

This is the second emergency department closure at Mission within two weeks. Dr. James Warkentin, medical director, framed the shortage as part of a broader pattern. "It's unfortunately a regional, provincial, national, and international problem with a shortage of physicians," he said. "Because we're a smaller site, a place like Mission where we have three physicians over 24 hours, if one of those lines doesn't get filled, then we have to close."

Warkentin noted that Mission's physician shortages have "plateaued" and that an active hiring campaign is expected to close some gaps in coming months, though the timeline remains uncertain.