Northern Health redeploys Operating Room staff to Emergency department at PRRH to address staffing pressures

Northern Health is redeploying staff at PRRH in order
to address staffing pressures

The impact of COVID on health care was once again laid out by Health Minister Adrian Dix today, with the Minister and Doctor Bonnie Henry providing an update on the ongoing health care situation, with a few notes of interest on the challenges facing hospitals across the province and in particular in the Northern Health Region.

Minister Dix provided a list of hospitals across the province where assets are being shifted to address need in communities and among the hospitals being impacted is Prince Rupert Regional Hospital, with the minister observing: 

"At Prince Rupert Regional Hospital for the month of November, operating room staff are being redeployed in the Emergency Department, due to staffing pressures"

Prince Rupert is not alone, Smithers as well is facing some staffing situations at the Bulkley Valley Hospital, which sees day to day surgical postponements to meet day to day care issues.

Minister Dix also noted that since the massive transfer initiative began this fall  92 Northern Health patients have been transferred to other hospitals in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, a situation that does have an impact on how those hospitals deal with the surge of new patients and can have an impact on those communities as well.

The information session also relayed how the Province is addressing the vaccine mandate in the health sector and noted of the number of health care professionals that have not met the mandate to date.

The two health officials explored a range of questions on that theme, including concerns over the hesitation to get a vaccination by health care professionals and if there are worries about filling those positions as they become vacant due to the vaccination mandate.

The Minister observed that the current rate of vaccination for health professionals is 95.8% of the over 122,000 health care professionals are fully vaccinated, with those 2.6 percent who have not accepted a vaccination as of yet, now on unpaid leave.

In the Northern Health Region, 4% or 320 employees are not fully vaccinated to date. 

Towards the enforcement of the vaccine mandate, Doctor Henry observed that those who refuse to be immunized for COVID, perhaps have chosen the wrong profession.

"So if people are in our health care system and not recognizing the importance of vaccination, then this is probably not the right profession for them, to be frank ...  It is incredibly important that we see the many different reasons why we as health care providers should be protected.  

One for ourselves, to protect our families. To protect our colleagues, but most importantly to protect the people we care for"

Minister Dix also outlined the status of the Public Service vaccination mandate, which to date has reached just under 90 percent of those with at least one dose, with unpaid leave the recourse for those who have refused to get a vaccination, followed by the prospect of potential dismissal.

Doctor Henry and Minister Dix also outlined how the Booster dose program will move forward, and who qualifies now and what the timeline for booster doses will look like, in order to provide for durable protection.

With most British Columbians likely to be called for a third shot sometime in the early part of 2022.

You can review the full information session from the video below:

More notes on health care in the Northwest is available here.

The archive of our notes the provincial response to COVID can be explored again.