‘Physician staffing challenges’ lead to diversion of patients from Mission Memorial Hospital

Mission Memorial Hospital in Mission, B.C., is seen in this file photo. (CTV News)

Mission Memorial Hospital will be redirecting patients away from its emergency department overnight Saturday.

Fraser Health announced the “temporary service interruption” in a statement early Saturday afternoon, blaming the situation on “physician staffing challenges.”

Beginning at 6:30 p.m. and continuing until 8 a.m. Sunday, Mission Memorial will be redirecting patients with urgent needs to other hospitals in the region, according to the health authority.

“The service interruption will begin at 6:30 p.m. to ensure all patients already in the Emergency Department can be seen by a physician before they end their shift at 11 p.m.,” Fraser Health said.

“After 6:30 p.m., emergency-trained nurses will continue to be on site and available to support walk-in patients needing basic first aid, assist with redirection of care and/or transfer patients with urgent needs to a neighbouring hospital.”

The health authority said it is “working closely” with B.C. Emergency Health Services to ensure patients are sent to an appropriate emergency facility.

“Anyone with a life-threatening emergency, such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or severe bleeding, should call 911 immediately and will be transported to the nearest available and appropriate facility,” Fraser Health said.

All other hospital emergency departments in the health authority’s jurisdiction remain open, and all services other than the emergency department remain available at Mission Memorial, according to Fraser Health.

Emergency room closures and patient redirections have been a common occurrence in rural B.C. for years, but were not typically seen in the Lower Mainland until last year.

While B.C. officials have touted their efforts to recruit and retain health-care workers, the net gains in physicians practising in the province have not kept pace with a booming population that has stressed the system.

Late last month, the Opposition B.C. Conservatives dedicated a question period to grilling the NDP government on ER closures, with 20 different MLAs rising to share stories from their ridings.

At the time, the Conservatives said there had been 1,407 ER closures across hospitals in B.C. over the past two years.

The Health Ministry told CTV News that it doesn’t have comprehensive records for ER closures over the past two years, but its data indicates there were 793 ER closures between March 2024 and February 2025.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Penny Daflos and Rob Buffam