The Ashcroft and Area Community Health Table hopes to find a way to return the emergency department to seven days a week (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

ASHCROFT HEALTH CARE

New health care advocacy group looking to be creative to fill staffing needs at Ashcroft hospital

Nov 1, 2019 | 9:05 AM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been four years since the emergency department in Ashcroft has been closed Monday to Friday, only open on weekends.

Staff shortages persist in the village of 1,600 people, making it difficult to stay open at times.

“Recruitment and retention are huge issues all around the province. I think every health authority, even Kamloops, I know they were looking for 15 nurses at RIH. So when you’re having difficulties recruiting to a major centre like RIH, then smaller, rural communities really have a struggle to recruit people,” said Ashcroft mayor Barbara Roden.

Roden says every resident has to be an advocate to promote the village and its benefits. Since the summer, a regional partnership with Interior Health has created advocacy group Ashcroft and Area Community Health Table.

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“In the early days, a lot of the focus was on the emergency department. We had several unexpected closures at that time. We’ve been dealing with that, talking about the challenge, what we want that to look like,” noted Roden. “But now we’re moving on to the next phase, which is really discussing the primary care network model and what that will mean for Ashcroft and the region.”

The hospital services people in places like Ashcroft, Cache Creek and Clinton among other communities. The group is looking at the healthcare needs of the region, what services are available, and how Interior Health could help to provide what communities need, especially around staffing levels.

“We have to look at out-of-the-box ways to staff services,” said executive director at Interior Health West, Lisa Zetes-Zanatta. “We know people get sick, we know people have leaves, and so we’re actually, from a broader perspective, (looking) at how we can facilitate having people that can go in multiple hospitals and cover multiple sites.”

On the doctor front, the Ashcroft clinic is doing quite well compared to five years ago when it was struggling to recruit even one.

“I think the physician situation is very good,” said Roden. “It was 2014, we were down to one physician, so we’re now up to three. There is a fourth in the Practice Ready Assessment Program who hopefully will be coming here in the spring, and they do sign a three-year contract.”

The problem lately has been nurses. The Ashcroft hospital is operating with three nurses, one short of full staffing. Interior Health says it has hired two more nurses that will start in the new year.

The new staffing levels could eventually allow the hospital to return the emergency department to seven days a week, but not necessarily 24 hours a day.

“What it could look like, we may have 10 in the morning until eight at night if people want to come in after work,” said Zetes-Zanatta. “We’ll have to see what primary care needs to look like. I know there’s a want for out-of-office time. I know there’s a want for Saturday and Sunday time. Being open 24/7 on the weekends, we’ll have to look at the data and determine if that’s what’s needed.”

The goal is to keep those doctors, nurses, and their families in Ashcroft. The village is also pushing for a nurse practitioner who could help alleviate pressure on the system. It’s an idea Interior Health has looked into, but needs more time to research to see it could affect the primary care system.