New doctors should help end the issue of consistent closures of the Lillooet emergency department by the end of this year, according to suggestions from the regional Health Authority.

It comes amid new criticism of the status of healthcare from a local official faced a harrowing health care scenario involving her husband.

Interior Health has confirmed to Radio NL that a new doctor moved to the community in April, with three more are anticipated to join in the fall.

“We recognize the concerns felt by the community about recent service interruptions and are committed to bringing new physicians to Lillooet and supporting them to stay in the community,” said Interior Health’s Executive Director of Clinical Operations for Thompson Cariboo Rural, Karen Cooper.  “We are pleased that a new physician started work in Lillooet in April, and three more are expected to join in the fall.”

However, because the doctors who are joining Lillooet’s team are coming in through what’s known as the Practice Ready Assessment BC (PRA-BC) program, it takes at least three months for them qualify to work on their own in the emergency room.

“The new physician that joined in April will be providing clinical work under supervision and is expected to begin taking independent shifts in the emergency department this summer,” noted Cooper.  “This is an important step to support the physician’s onboarding into the emergency medicine service in Lillooet.”

Once the doctors are signed up for service, the program should provide stability for Lillooet’s hospital.

Under the PRA-BC program, doctors who agree to join the system are financially obligated to continue working in those communities for three years or face penalties anywhere from $90,00 to $365,000 if they break their contract.

A three-month assessment for the three physicians expected for Lillooet has already started. This process will be done prior to them arriving this fall. If they are successful, they would be qualified to work as family physicians in the community.

The PRA-BC doctors do have to meet a set of standards laid-out by their observers to qualify for individual practice.

Lillooet ER closures drawing regional concerns

Lillooet has been dealing with on-and-off emergency department closures for the bulk of 2025, as the community has been having difficulty attracting physicians.

The most recent closure lasted 13 hours starting at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 20 until 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 21.

So far in May, the local ER has been shut down around 150 hours in total.

During the shutdowns, patients are told to make the two-hour drive to Kamloops to receive emergency care at Royal Inland Hospital.

While the Lillooet Hospital’s jurisdiction falls within the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, alarm bells about the closure of the Lillooet Emergency Room is drawing concerns in the neighboring Thompson Nicola Regional District.

TNRD director for the Lytton area, Tricia Thorpe, notes that many in her riding access that hospital.

“You have to remember… Lillooet serves a large area.  It’s not just Lillooet.  You’ve got people that are coming an hour, two hours from out of Lillooet to access Lillooet.  They’re being told to go to Kamloops.”

This particular concern nearly hit home personally for Thorpe in April, when her husband suffered a heart attack.

While the local ambulance was able to make it to her rural home in the Lytton area and transport him to the nearby Lillooet hospital, the local ER had been shut down the night before and was also closed the night after.

That would have meant a much longer trip by ambulance into Kamloops.

“Somebody’s going to die.  I hate to sound so blunt, but that’s what’s going to happen,” cautioned Thorpe.  “Then, [when Lillooet is closed] we’ve got ambulances that are getting tied up trying to get somebody to Kamloops.  We’ve got one ambulance here.  If it has to drag somebody to Kamloops, what if we have another serious incident in the community?  What happens then?”

Interior Health says the situation in Lillooet is something they’re taking seriously.

“Recruitment and retention of staff and physicians is a partnership between Interior Health, current physicians and staff, and our community partners,” said Cooper. “We welcome more discussions with the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and local Indigenous partners on how we can work collectively to bring new health professionals to live and work within the community, while providing sustainable and consistent health services to local patients.”

Cooper says that the leadership team at Interior Health continues to be in monthly meetings with the District of Lillooet’s chief administrative officer and mayor.

The Health Authority says they’ve also been making efforts to try to secure locum physician coverage for both 12 and 24-hour shifts.

Insiders suggest one of the overriding issues for the continual shutdowns of the Lillooet emergency department is an unwillingness of locums, or travelling physicians, to make the drive in and out of the community.

The Interior Health team says it is promoting the use of its Virtual Emergency Room Rural assistance program which is intended to support local physicians by providing an overnight consultation service to patients and only calling in local physicians if truly needed for the most urgent of cases.

–With files from Paul James