In September, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 17 communities in August, all of which lost their emergency department.
This is a continuation of similar closures starting in May 2021. And it’s driven primarily by a lack of physicians in the communities.
I dug through all the news releases that AHS issued last month to find out if there were any closures in last month, as well. Sure enough, there were.
Here’s what I found.
Barrhead
AHS actually announced the first September closure in August. On the 29th, AHS published a closure for the emergency department at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre. It was actually 2 closures.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 07:00, 1 September | 7:00, 2 September | 24 hours |
| 07:00, 3 September | 7:00, 4 September | 24 hours |
| 48 hours |
Nurses were on site for assessment, triage, and referral purposes.
About 2 weeks later, on 12 September, they announced another loss of physician coverage for this emergency department. It was to run for 10 hours, starting at 07:00 on the 15th and ending at 17:00 that same day. But just as the closure was about to begin, they posted that they found someone to cover it.
The emergency department was closed for a combined 48 hours in September.
These closures, like the others, were because of the AHS not having enough physicians in the community.
Every closure announcement included information on the province’s virtual emergency physician pilot programme. The programme facilitates clinical staff connecting with an AHS physician by telephone or videoconference for emergency patients with non-life threatening issues.
Barrhead lost ER services in November and December of 2021; January, February, March, June, July, and August of 2022; October 2024; and April and August 2025.
Hinton
The first closure of the emergency department at the Hinton Health Centre was announced during the last week of August.
The 29 August announcement included 1 closure in August, as well as 7 closures in the first week of September. Here are the September closures.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 21:00, 1 September | 07:00, 2 September | 10 hours |
| 13:00, 2 September | 07:00, 3 September | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 3 September | 07:00, 4 September | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 4 September | 07:00, 5 September | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 5 September | 07:00, 6 September | 18 hours |
| 21:00, 6 September | 07:00, 7 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 7 September | 07:00, 8 September | 10 hours |
| 102 hours |
Technically, they said that it would “be without onsite physician coverage”, not that it would be explicitly closed.
A little over a week later, on the 8th, they announced another 7 closures for this community.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 21:00, 8 September | 07:00, 9 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 9 September | 07:00, 10 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 10 September | 07:00, 11 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 11 September | 07:00, 12 September | 10 hours |
| 13:00, 12 September | 07:00, 13 September | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 13 September | 07:00, 14 September | 18 hours |
| 21:00, 14 September | 07:00, 15 September | 10 hours |
| 86 hours |
3 days later, however, AHS said they found coverage for the closure that was set to start on the 13th.
The following week, on the 15th, AHS posted about 6 more emergency department closures in Hinton.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 21:00, 15 September | 07:00, 16 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 16 September | 07:00, 17 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 17 September | 07:00, 18 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 18 September | 07:00, 19 September | 10 hours |
| 23:00, 19 September | 07:00, 20 September | 8 hours |
| 23:00, 20 September | 07:00, 21 September | 8 hours |
| 56 hours |
5 more closures of the month for this community were announced on the 22nd.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 13:00, 22 September | 07:00, 23 September | 18 hours |
| 21:00, 23 September | 07:00, 24 September | 10 hours |
| 13:00, 24 September | 07:00, 25 September | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 25 September | 07:00, 26 September | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 26 September | 07:00, 27 September | 18 hours |
| 82 hours |
The next closures of the month for this community were announced on the 26th; although most of them were closures for October. Here are the September portion of these closures.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 21:00, 28 September | 07:00, 29 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 29 September | 07:00, 30 September | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 30 September | 23:59, 30 September | 3 hours |
| 23 hours |
All of these closures were a result of AHS not having hired a sufficient number of physicians, or what they called “a clinical personnel shortage and an inability to secure temporary coverage”.
The community lost their emergency room for a combined 431 hours in September.
This emergency department also experienced closures in May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of last year, and January, April, May, June, July, and August of this year.
Coronation
Another closure announcement made at the end of August came when AHS on the 28th that they planned to close the emergency department at the Coronation Hospital and Care Centre twice in September.
| Start | End | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| 08:00, 5 September | 08:00, 8 September | 72 hours |
| 08:00, 19 September | 08:00, 22 September | 72 hours |
| 144 hours |
On top of that, they said earlier this year that effective 5 February, they would close down this emergency department for 24 hours every Thursday for the foreseeable future, as well as every weekend. This has since been adjusted to between 08:00 on Tuesdays until 08:00 on Wednesdays, and again between 08:00 on Thursdays and 08:00 on Fridays. For September, that came to 208 hours.
When you add that to the two separate closures, we get a combined total of 352 hours.
These closures were due to AHS’s inability to have sufficient staffing levels of physicians, or as they called it: “gaps in physician coverage”.
Nursing staff were on hand to assess patients and provide limited care.
Coronation also lost their emergency department in April, May, June, July, September, October, November, and December 2022; January, February, March, October, and December 2024; and January, May, and August 2025.
Edson
The first September closure announcement actually posted in September was for the community of Edson, which is about an hour east of Hinton.
On the 2nd, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department at the Edson Healthcare Centre later that day and twice more over the next week.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 15:00, 2 September | 08:00, 3 September | 17 hours |
| 15:00, 5 September | 08:00, 6 September | 17 hours |
| 15:00, 6 September | 08:00, 7 September | 17 hours |
| 52 hours |
However, 2 days later, AHS said they found coverage for the final 2 closures.
As the month drew to a close, AHS announced on the 26th 2 more closures for this community.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 23:00, 27 August | 08:00, 28 August | 9 hours |
| 15:00, 28 August | 08:00, 29 August | 15 hours |
| 24 hours |
Every closure announcement included information on the province’s virtual emergency physician programme, which is being piloted in 7 communities, including this one.
Edson was without its emergency department for 41 hours in total last month.
Edson also lost their emergency department in November 2024, as well as this past January, July, and August. AHS also closed the surgical suites in this hospital for 53 hours back in August 2021.
Redwater
On the 2nd, AHS stated that the emergency department at the Redwater Health Centre would have no physician on site for 24 hours beginning at 08:00 the following morning.
Nurses were on site at the emergency department to triage and assess patients, as well as to refer them to facilities in other communities.
Every closure announcement included information on the province’s virtual emergency physician programme, which is being piloted in 7 communities, including this one.
This was the sixth month since since I began tracking closures in May 2021 that this community has had its emergency department closed. The other times were this past January, April, May, June, and August.
Fort Macleod
On the 3rd, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department in the Fort Macleod Health Centre for 12 hours that day, beginning at 07:00 and ending at 19:00.
A couple of weeks later, on the 18th, they posted that they would be closed for another 12 hours, beginning at 07:00 that morning; however, later that day, they said they found coverage for the period after all.
However, AHS announced another closure for this emergency department less than a week later, on the 23rd. It was to begin at 22:00 that evening and run 9 hours until 07:00 the following morning.
That is a combined 21 hours that this emergency department was closed last month.
During the closure, nurses were on site, but only to care for long-term care residents.
Fort Macleod was also without emergency department services in September and December 2023; April, May, July, August, October, and December 2024; and January, April, May, June, July, and August 2025.
Smoky Lake
On the 4th, AHS declared that they were shutting down the emergency department at the George McDougall Healthcare Centre in Smoky Lake 4 times during September.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 16:00, 4 September | 08:00, 5 September | 16 hours |
| 16:00, 11 September | 08:00, 12 September | 16 hours |
| 16:00, 18 September | 08:00, 19 September | 16 hours |
| 16:00, 25 September | 08:00, 26 September | 16 hours |
| 64 hours |
A little over a week later, however, they announced another closure. The closure was to start at 16:00 on the 12th and end 64 hours later, at 08:00 on the 15th.
That’s a combined 128 hours for the entire month of September.
Like so many others, these closures were a result of AHS not having staffed a sufficient number of physicians for this hospital.
Nursing staff were on site, however, to triage and assess patients and to refer them to healthcare facilities in other communities, if needed.
This isn’t the first time that Smoky Lake has lost its emergency department either. It was also closed in April, August, and September 2022; March, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2023; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, November, and December 2024; and January, April, May, June, July, and August 2025.
Sylvan Lake
On the 4th, AHS announced that they were closing the Sylvan Lake Advanced Ambulatory Care Service the next day.
It was to begin at 07:30 on the 5th and end at 15:00 that afternoon.
This closure was due to AHS not hiring enough physicians; although AHS called it “gaps in physician coverage”.
Keep in mind that advanced ambulatory care is regularly shut down every night from 22:00 until 07:30 the following morning. Not including the regularly scheduled overnight closures, Sylvan Lake lost its advanced ambulatory care for a combined 7.5 hours in September.
This is not the first time the community has lost ambulatory care; they lost it in August and over the Christmas holidays in 2021; in January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2022; in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023; in January, Februrary, March, April, May, July, and December of 2024; and in April and August 2025.
Beaverlodge
On the 17th, AHS said that they’d be shutting down the emergency department at Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital the next day, between 08:00 and 20:00 the following day, for a total of 12 hours.
Like the others, these closure were a result of AHS’s inability to hire enough physicians.
Beaverlodge’s emergency department saw closures in May, July, August, November, and December 2023; January, March, May, June, August, September, and October 2024; and June, July, and August 2025.
Milk River
The town of Milk River also received a closure notice on the 17th. The emergency department at the Milk River Health Centre was to be closed from 15:00 that afternoon until 19:00 that afternoon, lasting 4 hours.
The next day AHS said they were closing this emergency department again, beginning at 17:00 that evening and lasting for 24 hours..
Milk River lost their emergency room for a combined 28 hours in September.
These closures were due to insufficient staffing levels of physicians.
Nursing staff were on site in both cases to provide care for long-term care residents, and EMS were redirected to Raymond or Lethbridge.
Milk River also lost their ER in February, May, September, October, and December of 2022; in January, February, May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023; in January, June, and December 2024; and in August 2025.
Hardisty
On the 29th, AHS said they were closing the emergency department at the Hardisty Health Centre.
The closure announcement provided no start time; however the meta tags in the HTML code of the page said it was published just before 10:00 that same day. It was supposed to end at 07:00 on 1 October
Assuming that the closure did indeed begin at 10:00 on the 29th, then the September portion of this closure would be 38 hours.
The cause was “a gap in physician coverage”.
Nursing staff were on hand for assessment and provide appropriate care. They also were to refer patients, where needed, to alternate care facilities in surrounding communities.
Hardisty also lost their emergency department in November and December 2023; August and December 2024; and June and July 2025.
Ongoing closures
Keep in mind that these are just the closures announced in September (well, and a few in August).
It doesn’t include communities with extended closures, such as Grimshaw, where AHS closed their emergency department for 12 hours every night in November 2022 and still hasn’t changed it. That was a combined 360 hours in September.
Two Hills has had reduced hours since March 2024. It had been closed between 22:00 and 08:00 Mondays through Thursday, as well as each weekend, from 17:00 on Friday to 08:00 on Monday. This past August, AHS announced that the weekday closure would start 2 hours earlier every day. That amounts to 436 hours in September.
Since April 2025, the emergency department in the Bow Island Health Centre was open only on the weekend, closing from 07:00 each Monday until 07:00 each Friday. As of 5 September, however, they will now be closed for 12 hours every weeknight beginning at 20:00. On Thursdays, however, the closures would be for 11 hours. Between the two closures, that amounted to 300 hours in September.
Finally, since September 2024, Elk Point has lost their emergency department for 25 hours starting at 07:00 every Wednesday. For September, that was 4 Wednesdays, for a combined 100 hours.
2 replies on “14 AB hospitals lost their ER in September 2025”
[…] October, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 15 communities in September, 14 of […]
[…] September, October, November, and December of 2024; January, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November of 2025; and January […]