**Spencer Brown, head of emergency medicine for Prince Edward Island, says ER closures reflect a broader shortage of trained emergency physicians. / ISTOCK PHOTO**

Repeated closures of Western Hospital’s emergency department are raising concerns about access to urgent medical care in P.E.I.’s western communities.

CTV reported that the emergency department has been forced to close several times because of temporary staffing shortages, leaving patients to seek care at Prince County Hospital in Summerside, nearly an hour away for some residents. Long waits at the alternative hospital can add to the challenge, particularly for patients whose conditions require urgent attention.

Residents say reliable access to emergency care is especially important in an aging rural population. For people travelling from communities such as Lennox Island, the additional distance can become critical during a medical emergency.

Dr. Spencer Brown, head of emergency medicine for the province, says the closures reflect a broader shortage of trained emergency physicians. Western Hospital often depends on a small group of doctors willing to work demanding 12-hour shifts. Retirements, personal circumstances and growing concerns about the pressures of rural emergency medicine have made staffing more difficult.

Brown also says rural doctors face additional challenges because hospitals may lack diagnostic equipment such as CT scanners and ultrasounds, requiring patients to be transferred to larger centres.

While health officials work to fill staffing gaps, Brown says unexpected closures remain a serious safety concern because patients may arrive unaware that the emergency department is unavailable. “That’s the thing that keeps me up at night, and the thing that makes us try and scramble to get people to cover these shifts, myself included sometimes,” he says.