When this hospital couldn’t staff its ER, doctors were asked to name their price
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The program, which brought enough substitute physicians north to keep the ER running, is a creative solution to a national shortage but doesn’t come without risks

Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife, N.W.T., is shown on Tuesday, August 23, 2022. As hospitals and other health-care facilities across Canada begin to grapple with worker shortages, the North is facing longstanding challenges recruiting and retaining staff. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut are no strangers to staffing gaps and service disruptions where many communities have limited health-care resources and are often reliant on locum staff from southern Canada. Added pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic and a shrinking national workforce has only exacerbated the issue. Dr. Courtney Howard is a long-time emergency physician in Yellowknife who worked her last shift at Stanton Territorial Hospital in July before pursuing a masters in public policy. She said COVID-19 amplified staffing challenges at the hospital with many health-care professionals working extended hours and unable to take vacation time.

It was late June, and the largest hospital in the Northwest Territories was running out of options for keeping its emergency department open through the summer.

There were nine shifts in July and 38 in August and early September during which no ER doctor was scheduled to work at Yellowknife’s Stanton Territorial Hospital, a facility that serves all of the NWT and western Nunavut.

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