Pediatric unit at Kelowna hospital to close for at least 6 weeks amid doctor shortage

An emergency department physician is sounding the alarm about staffing shortages within Interior Health following the announcement of an extended closure of the pediatric unit at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH).

In a statement, Interior Health says the service disruption to the KGH's 10-bed inpatient general pediatrics unit will start Monday and last at least six weeks as pediatricians will be moved to the neonatal intensive care unit and high-risk deliveries. 

The health authority says it is making the temporary changes to pediatric care at the hospital to address scheduling gaps due to limited physician availability.

Dr. Jeff Eppler, an emergency department physician at KGH, said parents shouldn't hesitate to bring their sick child to the emergency department to get the care they need.

"I think the contingency will be if the sick child comes in ... if they need to be admitted then they are going to be staying in [the] emergency department," he said. 

Eppler said there had been some planning for disruptions in pediatric services, "but we were never prepared to become what is essentially a de facto pediatric ward."

Dr. Hussam Azzam, executive medical director for Interior Health South, said that staff can make arrangements to have a young patient transferred to another hospital, hopefully within the Interior Health region.  

Eppler is critical of how the news was communicated to staff, saying they found out about the service interruption through a press release less than a week before the closure. 

Daybreak South8:29An emergency room doctor at Kelowna General Hospital explains how his department will treat kids during a six-week closure of the hospital's pediatric ward.

An emergency room doctor at Kelowna General Hospital explains how a six-week closure of the hospital's pediatric ward will affect the ER, and care for kids.

Azzam said there have been shorter periods of interrupted coverage in KGH's pediatric department over the last few months due to "a chronic shortage of pediatricians" at the hospital who can look after inpatients.

Eppler said he and other hospital staff knew there were going to be some disruptions to pediatric services that could last a day or even a few days, but they had no idea that a closure would last for more than a month. 

"I suspect this situation has been brewing for a lot longer and we should have been notified much sooner so we could do better planning," Eppler said. "This affects our department greatly because we're already often short nurses."

Interior Health said the interruption in service only affects children who need to be admitted to the general pediatric unit. All critical care services for children — including the emergency department and neonatal intensive care unit — are open.

Recruiting pediatricians challenging, says health minister

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said the decision to shutter the pediatric unit for at least six weeks was a difficult one, noting that recruiting staff amid a global shortage of health-care workers is a challenge. 

"Pediatricians generally has been a specialty that's been more difficult to recruit to and Kelowna is not alone in experiencing these kinds of shortages," Osborne said. 

Azzam said they are constantly working to improve recruitment efforts. 

"We are hoping that there is at least one pediatrician [who] will be joining us in in the summer, so that will hopefully alleviate the pressure," he said.

Eppler said it's important to emphasize that he and his emergency department colleagues will continue to provide patients with the care they need. 

"We still provide good care," he said. "We are trained in pediatrics, but we do not think it is a good thing that we're becoming basically a pediatric ward."