British ColumbiaAfter the emergency room at Delta Hospital closed for more than 12 hours Saturday night due to a doctor shortage, one city councillor is calling the situation a “public health emergency.”Delta, B.C., Coun. Dylan Kruger says ER closure is a ‘public health emergency’CBC News · Posted: Oct 05, 2025 9:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoDelta Hospital’s emergency room was closed for more than 12 hours Saturday night until Sunday morning. (Ben Nelms/CBC)After the emergency room at Delta Hospital closed for more than 12 hours Saturday night due to a doctor staffing shortage, one city councillor is calling the situation a “public health emergency.”Fraser Health said in a news release the interruption would last 12½ hours from 6 p.m. Saturday to 6:30 a.m. Sunday.It’s the fourth time the Delta emergency room has closed this year. The health authority said emergency-trained nurses would remain on site during the interruption to help walk-in patients with basic care and to help redirect or transfer patients to neighbouring hospitals.Delta Coun. Dylan Kruger called the ER closure a failing of the B.C. government.”The province has known about these staffing and capacity issues for years, yet here we are again. Another night, another closure,” Kruger said in a statement.He said council had requested a meeting with B.C.’s Health Minister about the issue last week at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, but Josie Osborne did not take the meeting. “I am tired of issuing calls for the province to step up. I’m tired of asking the province to take responsibility and fix what is clearly broken,” he said.”We need change now,” he concluded.Fraser Health apologized to the community for the inconvenience in an emailed statement.It noted it is “almost always successful” in preventing emergency department service interruptions and cited its average prevention rate of 99 per cent.Prioritize staffing: AdvocateDr. Charlene Lui, president of Doctors of B.C., said recruitment and retention of workers in the province has long been a challenge for hospitals, especially emergency departments.She said it takes a “special kind of workforce” to staff ERs.”The ER … is a very stressful place, and it is very intense, and it takes a lot of dedication for our workers, for our physicians.”Lui said staffing, for all positions in the hospital and not just doctors, needs to be the highest priority.”We know that waiting for care when patients don’t feel well causes a lot of frustration, and oftentimes, unfortunately, that frustration comes out in their interactions with health-care professionals.”She said recruiting more security would allow health-care workers to do their job without worrying for their own safety, while adding more administrative staff would let health-care workers focus on patients directly.Lui added relaxing credentialing processes would help, as well as allowing staff to move to the areas that need them most.She said she’s hoping for a province-wide urgent stabilization plan for emergency departments across the province, noting that when ERs in urban cities like Delta are having trouble, rural areas are even more challenged.”We’re asking for urgent resumption of conversations with our ministry and health authority so we can really work to fix this problem — quickly.”‘Long-term issue’: health minister B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said ER closures are “extremely tough news.””We know the emergency room has to be there for us,” she said.Health Minister Josie Osborne says the province is working hard to recruit new doctors and nurses. (Mike McArthur/CBC)Osborne said the government is in the process of recruiting more physicians and nurses from the U.S. and training more in B.C.”We know this is a long-term issue that we’ve got to really build out the health-care workforce so that we don’t see these kinds of disruptions.”Osborne said from January through August this year, the province saw a 25 per cent reduction in hours of emergency rooms that are closed compared to 2024.She said she’s been in discussions with Delta’s mayor and council around the need for its own urgent and primary care centre in the city.”We are committed to expanding the urgent and primary care system that we’ve built up…. We are aware and know that Delta has those needs as well.”With files from The Canadian Press, Jon Azpiri, Michelle Morton and Lauren Vanderdeen
Delta councillor sounds alarm after local ER closes again for 12 hours
