In recent months and years, Island Health has placed significant focus and effort into stabilizing and improving patient care and service delivery at West Coast General Hospital (WCGH) in Port Alberni.
Working alongside local leadership, the dedicated local staff and medical staff, Island Health has and will continue to make investments that support safe, high quality patient care.
Recent investments and initiatives include:
- $4.1 million to add more than 17 full-time equivalent staff positions, including highly trained nurses to support the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Department (ED), allied health care positions across multiple departments and an expanded Indigenous Health team. This includes approximately $600,000 specifically for ICU trained nurses.
- More than $14 million in capital investments, including a modernized and expanded ED, a new CT scanner, new X-Ray unit and room enhancements, and overall site optimization projects.
- Hired a local physician as medical director for the site and a Director of Indigenous Health dedicated specifically to WCGH.
- Added associate physicians and are actively recruiting nurse practitioners to support overall patient care.
- Offering sponsored specialty training opportunities for nurses to learn and train to work in the ED and ICU.
- Extraordinary efforts from staff and medical staff, with support from teams across Island Health, to maintain access to all WCGH services through recent wildfires and highway closures.
- Established a “pop-up” cancer clinic to deliver local treatment to patients unable to travel due to highway closures.
Despite these investments and efforts, like many rural hospitals across British Columbia and Canada, WCGH is currently experiencing a shortage of specialty-trained registered nurses and physicians to work in the ICU. In recent discussions with WCGH medical staff physician leadership it became clear that additional, temporary measures were required to uphold safe patient care and support staff in delivering the best care possible.
Based on these discussions and a request from the ICU physicians, Island Health is temporarily adjusting services for the three-bed ICU at WCGH, effective November 20, 2025.
What this means for patients:
- Nothing changes for people in need of emergency medical care - if you or someone else needs emergency medical attention, call 911 or go to WCGH as you normally would.
- The emergency department remains open and staffed by highly trained nurses and physicians, supported by specialized Internal Medicine physicians who typically support patients requiring ICU level care.
- Patients who require admission to ICU will not be admitted at WCGH. They will be stabilized at WCGH and transferred to the most appropriate hospital, following standard emergency transfer processes. It is expected that most patients will be transferred to the new, state-of-the-art ICU at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
- Island Health has worked closely with our partners at BC Emergency Health Services to ensure appropriate resources and processes are in place to support efficient, safe patient transfers, either by air or ground.
- Specialized Internal Medicine physicians will continue to be available for WCGH to consult and stabilize patients before transfer.
This temporary change is not expected to impact the quality of patient care at WCGH. Our dedicated and highly trained clinical teams continue to be ready to respond to the health care needs of the community. Patients will continue to have timely access to specialized intensive care services. This is a temporary measure until adequate nursing, allied health and physician staffing levels are in place for the ICU.
It’s important to understand that about 30 per cent of patients who arrive at WCGH needing intensive care are already transferred to other hospitals for a higher level of care. WCGH will continue to operate in a similar way — supporting patients prior to transfer.
Island Health and the team at WCGH appreciates the community’s understanding and support as we work together to ensure safe, reliable care for everyone in the Alberni Valley and surrounding regions.