Port McNeill and Port Hardy hospitals have been crippled by emergency\u002Ddepartment closures since the spring.
Port McNeill Hospital, about 40 kilometres from Port Hardy, will remain the only acute-care hospital ER open 24 hours a day.Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion delivered straight to your inbox at 7 a.m., Monday to Friday.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc.
Dix said overnight emergency department services will reopen as soon as the health authority can meet staffing levels. “We have heard the community loud and clear — people need to know when services are available and when they are not,” MacNeil said. The funding will also provide for 10 additional protection service officers to improve safety, and upgraded accommodations for travelling staff, which Dix said is a huge part of attracting and retaining doctors and nurses to the area.
There’s also a plan to upgrade the Port McNeill and Port Hardy hospitals by renovating existing spaces, including the maternity, emergency departments, trauma and nurses’ stations.Article content Physician assistants train for two years to assist doctors with multiple tasks but can’t work independently and are not regulated or trained in B.C.
Dix said the province can look at whether there is a role in the system for physician assistants, but they are not trained in B.C., there are not significant numbers of them, and they were rejected by the previous provincial government.Article content “I think what people in the region want is a vision of how health care is going to be better in the region, and that’s what we’re working on,” said Dix. “Obviously, the key issue in the north Island — while we talk about doctors a lot — has been nursing … but also health sciences professionals, health-care workers, and issues of housing for people who want to go there.”Article content
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