{"id":449850,"date":"2026-05-28T18:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/449850\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T18:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:25:11","slug":"hudsons-hope-er-diversions-a-symptom-of-physician-shortage-says-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/449850\/","title":{"rendered":"Hudson’s Hope ER diversions a symptom of physician shortage, says mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hudson’s Hope Mayor Travous Quibell says his community has been short one doctor since late last year, which has contributed to emergency room diversions. <\/p>\n

The small northeastern B.C. community is located roughly 70 kilometres southwest of Fort St. John as the crow flies, on the foothills of the Rockies. <\/p>\n

“We are physically down one doctor. It’s put all the stress on that remaining physician to operate the health-care centre,” said Quibell. “And so the diversions are a symptom of that.” <\/p>\n

“That doctor’s focus is on providing primary care in the clinic, seeing patients, attending to appointments, making sure that labs and prescriptions are dealt with, and other less emergent issues.” <\/p>\n

According to data collected by CBC News, the health centre diverted emergency care for more than 1,200 hours last year.<\/p>\n

This month, there was a single closure that lasted 336 hours. It started on May 11 and ended on May 25. <\/p>\n

Quibell said his community is also served by a nurse, a lab technician and a telepharmacy. He said Northern Health has been helpful in providing backfill staff to keep the clinic operating smoothly. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe entrance to the Hudson’s Hope Health Centre on May 14, 2026. A single ER closure lasted 336 hours this month. (Tom Summer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Northern Health said it’s actively recruiting for a second family physician, with the single physician only working part-time, but noted the Hudson\u2019s Hope Health Centre is a small facility with limited base staffing and limited backup staff availability. <\/p>\n

“Locum support is requested and put into place, when available, to mitigate service interruptions whenever possible,” wrote a Northern Health spokesperson by email. <\/p>\n

“The focus of the health centre is to provide primary care access to the community.” <\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the provincial government is attempting to remove barriers to health care by improving hiring pathways for U.S. and internationally-trained medical professionals. <\/p>\n

“While these efforts are helping, the reality is that rural and remote regions across B.C. are all competing for a limited number of health-care providers,” they noted. <\/p>\n

Dr. Dave Snadden, the rural doctors UBC chair in rural health with the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), said the best way to recruit medical professionals to remote and rural communities is to hire people who’ve trained in rural areas or who come from a rural background. <\/p>\n

“It’s so important to get students out into rural communities when they’re in their undergraduate years,” he said. “Because then they really see that if they train in a rural community, they’ll get a lot more experience.” <\/p>\n

\"ERER diversion hours posted outside the Hudson’s Hope Health Centre on May 14, 2026. The diversion was extended to May 25. (Tom Summer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Snadden was a rural physician for 11 years in the Scottish Highlands before he was recruited to help develop UNBC’s northern medical program, which trains physicians from and for northern and rural communities. <\/p>\n

He said students who’ve trained in rural areas often develop more clinical training competence than their city-based peers, with more hands-on learning available to them.<\/p>\n

“In big cities, health care has become what we call reductionist,” said Snadden. “They do very narrow kind of reviews of things, and it’s just not the same. You don’t get the same breadth of experience.” <\/p>\n

Snadden said there’s no single solution to fixing or improving health care, as every rural community is different, but added that all medical professionals need to feel supported. <\/p>\n

“Communities where retention and recruitment has been successful often have built that kind of culture where people want to be there because they’re really embraced as part of the community and they’re supported.”<\/p>\n

Subscribe to CBC\u2019s Fort St. John Weekly<\/a> for a roundup of the best news and stories from B.C.\u2019s Peace and Northern Rockies.<\/p>\n

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