Horgan addresses Royal Inland Hospital staffing shortage

KAMLOOPS – The Premier is responding to the staffing shortage at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH), after surgeons and nurses have expressed their frustrations.

Doctors and nurses at RIH say the staffing shortage and overflow have been major issues long before COVID-19 and the displacement of wildfire evacuees, but Interior Health and the Premier continue to attribute both factors as reasons for the current crisis.

The Premier says he has a plan to alleviate emergency rooms.

“Urgent primary care centres are emerging across the province to take pressure off ERs, a lot of people present at emergency rooms that could well better be served at an urgent primary care clinic to get the services they need,” he told CFJC News.

Horgan says the province is working on recruiting and retaining hospital staff but here is a shortage in people interested in doing the jobs.

“There’s a labour shortage not just in healthcare, but in every sector. And that’s a result of a population that’s not growing to keep pace with the economic needs,” Horgan explained.

“So we’re focused on that, we’ve talked to the federal government about immigration, we’ve talked to the federal government about making sure that we have the resources to train the next generation.”