June 28, 2007	PDF format : 128 Kb

Nurses are demanding the Vancouver Island Health Authority take immediate action to ensure the Intensive Care Unit at Campbell River and District Hospital stays open 24/7 after July 1.

"Unless VIHA acts now, the hospital will lose full ICU coverage July 1, and that could be a disaster for patient care this summer, not only in Campbell River Hospital, but throughout the North and Central Island," says Leslie Graham, acting chair of the BC Nurses' Union's Pacific Rim Region.

"Losing 24/7 ICU coverage means back-ups in the emergency room, longer waits for patients and patients needing critical care forced to transfer to other facilities with negative impacts on their health. It also increases the pressure on the facilities they're transferred to."

The hospital is scheduled to lose 24/7 ICU services July 1. Local ICU physicians are no longer willing to cover all shifts because VIHA has cut funding for locum doctors who travel to Campbell River to fill in the gaps. 

Without full ICU coverage the hospital will be unable to perform complex surgeries and surgeries on high-risk patients who may need access to intensive care. The hospital won't be able to take transfers from other North Island hospitals or handle increased load from the tourist season. The nearby St. Joseph's Hospital in Comox faces difficulties keeping all its ICU beds open during the summer because of staff shortages.

When there are no ICU physicians available, patients coming to the Campbell River Hospital needing intensive care will have to wait in the emergency ward, causing more delays for other ER patients.

"This is a serious situation that VIHA must solve immediately," says BCNU president Debra McPherson. "They can't sit back and hope that nothing bad will happen. They can no longer run health care by 'risk management'. I'm afraid that leaving Campbell River without full ICU coverage is a catastrophe waiting to happen."