For residents of Lillooet and the surrounding area, help can’t come soon enough.
The municipality’s emergency department (ER) continues to see frequent closures that have been attributed to a shortage of physicians.
It’s not just Lillooet -- Residents in Merritt, Clearwater, 100 Mile House and Oliver know the pain all too well, but none have experienced the same level of regular shutdowns as Lillooet.
Since March 1, Interior Health (IH) has announced 33 different closures of the ER at Lillooet Hospital and Health Centre.
While they are often 12 hours or less and overnight, some also span multiple days. People needing care are told to drive two hours to Kamloops when the Lillooet ER is closed.
“IH shares the concerns felt by the community about recent service interruptions and is committed to bringing new physicians to Lillooet and supporting them to stay in the community,” the health authority told NowMedia.
Those efforts appear to finally be working, with one new doctor hired and three others reportedly on the way, but how long will it take for the ER closures to stop?
It's hard to say, and there is certainly no firm timetable, but it appears as though the effects of these new hires won't be felt for quite some time.
According to IH, the new physician who started work in April is still only providing primary care and clinical work under supervision, but is expected to begin independent ER shifts “in the summer.”
The three other new hires are “expected to join the local team in the fall,” the health authority said, but will need the same multiple-month supervision process at the start of their tenure.
“This is an important step to support the physician’s onboarding into the emergency medicine service in Lillooet,” IH explained.
Recruitment and retention of staff and physicians is a partnership between IH, current physicians and staff, and community partners.
The health authority says there are “significant incentives” in place to doctors who join the Lillooet Hospital and Health Centre permanently.
That includes a potential recruitment incentive bonus of $15,000, depending on the physician’s full-time equivalent, and a potential recruitment relocation amount of up to $15,000, depending on where they’re moving from.
IH adds that there are also measures in place through the Rural Retention Program to try and keep physicians in Lillooet once they arrive, which include:
- Fee Premium of 13.97 per cent paid as a percentage on a physician’s fee-for-service (or alternate compensation model) billings for providing service in Lillooet;
- Flat Fee Payment of $21,641 annually, paid on a quarterly basis to physicians who reside and practice in Lillooet.
- The Rural Business Cost Modifier benefit, which is paid as part of the Flat Fee.
While the news of new hires in Lillooet is surely exciting for frustrated residents, all signs point to ER closures continuing for quite some time.
The graduation of the first newly-hired physician from supervised to independent work may help the cause slightly, but the end of 2025 appears to be a realistic timeline for closures to stop completely.
If all goes well and the three additional hires arrive in the fall, and start working independently relatively soon after, ER closures at Lillooet Hospital and Health Centre might just become a thing of the past.
