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iN NUMBERS: A tally of Interior Health ER closures

A doctor walks through a hospital corridor.
STOCK IMAGE/ADOBE STOCK

It’s hard to keep track of all the emergency room closures across BC, but the province has been keeping tabs.

Since the pandemic, it’s become common for smaller hospitals to see their ERs closed for several hours, sometimes even days at a time, due to staffing shortages.

A Freedom of Information request to the province resulted in a tally of ER closures across the province, including the Interior Health region.

Here are the numbers:

  • 3,675: The combined hours of ER closures in the Interior Health region from April 2023 to April 2025.
  • 153: The combined days of ER closures from April 2023 to April 2025.
  • 207: The total number individual ER closures in the health region.
  • 13: The total number of Interior Health hospitals where the ER was closed at least once.
  • 1,120: The total number of hours the South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver has been closed from April 2023 to April 2025, the highest of any hospital on the list.
  • 64: The number of closures at Oliver’s hospital that resulted in patients rerouted to Penticton.
  • 13: The number of days Oliver’s longest ER closure lasted.
  • 17.5: The average hourly length of an ER closure in Oliver.
  • 18: The average hourly length of an ER closure across the health region.
  • 37: The number of ER closures in September, the most commonly occurring month on the list.
  • 12,400: The average population in communities that see ER closures at their hospitals.
  • 0: The number of ER closures in the Central and North Okanagan.
  • 88: The number of closures that rerouted patients to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops from Merritt, Lillooet, Clearwater or Ashcroft.
Levi Landry

Levi is a recent graduate of the Communications, Culture, & Journalism program at Okanagan College and is now based in Kamloops. After living in the BC for over four years, he finds the blue collar and neighbourly environment in the Thompson reminds him of home in Saskatchewan. Levi, who has previously been published in Kelowna’s Daily Courier, is passionate about stories focussed on both social issues and peoples’ experiences in their local community. If you have a story or tips to share, you can reach Levi at 250 819 3723 or email LLandry@infonews.ca.

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