AHS shut down the ER in 17 hospitals in July 2025

In July, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 15 communities in June, 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.

Peace River

The first closure announcement for July was for the emergency department at the Peace River Community Health Centre.

The announcement actually came in June, beginning at 15:00 on the 30th and end at 07:30 the following morning. The July portion of the closure would last 7.5 hours.

No nurses nor doctors were on site during this 9-hour period because AHS had not hired enough, or as they put it, “due to an unexpected shortage of clinical operations personnel and an inability to secure temporary coverage”.

This was the first closure this emergency department has experienced since I began tracking closures in May 2021.

Hinton

The first closure announced in July was for the emergency department at the Hinton Health Centre. The 2 July announcement included 5 closures over the first week or so of last month.

Start	End	Hours
13:00, 2 July	07:00, 3 July	18 hours
16:00, 3 July	07:00, July	15 hours
13:00, 4 July	07:00, 5 July	18 hours
21:00, 5 July	07:00, 6 July	10 hours
21:00, 6 July	07:00, 7 July	10 hours
		71 hours

Technically, they said that it would “be without onsite physician coverage”, not that it would be explicitly closed.

Later that week, on the 9th, they announced another 7 closures for this community.

Start	End	Hours
21:00, 9 July	07:00, 10 July	10 hours
16:00, 10 July	07:00, 11 July	15 hours
21:00, 11 July	07:00, 12 July	10 hours
13:00, 12 July	07:00, 13 July	18 hours
21:00, 13 July	07:00, 14 July	10 hours
21:00, 14 July	07:00, 15 July	10 hours
13:00, 15 July	07:00, 16 July	18 hours
		91 hours

5 days later, on the 17th, AHS posted about 7 more emergency department closures.

Start	End	Hours
13:00, 14 July	07:00, 15 July	18 hours
16:00, 15 July	07:00, 16 July	15 hours
21:00, 16 July	07:00, 17 July	10 hours
16:00, 17 July	07:00, 18 July	15 hours
16:00, 18 July	07:00, 19 June	15 hours
21:00, 19 July	07:00, 20 July	10 hours
21:00, 20 July	07:00, 21 July	10 hours
		68 hours

5 more closures of the month for this community were announced on the 23rd.

Start	End	Hours
13:00, 21 July	07:00, 22 July	18 hours
13:00, 22 July	07:00, 23 July	18 hours
21:00, 23 July	07:00, 24 July	10 hours
21:00, 24 July	07:00, 25 July	10 hours
21:00, 26 July	07:00, 27 July	10 hours
		56 hours

The final closures of the month for this community were announced on the 28th. It was for 7 closures, but 3 of them were for August, so I will probably highlight those next month.

Start	End	Hours
21:00, 28 July	07:00, 29 July	10 hours
16:00, 29 July	07:00, 30 July	15 hours
16:00, 30 July	07:00, 31 July	15 hours
16:00, 31 July	23:59, 31 July	8 hours
		48 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”.

Also in every one of these announcements was information about a virtual emergency physician programme being piloted in the region, where site clinical staff can connect with an AHS physician by telephone or videoconference for emergency patients with non-life threatening issues. This physician can collaborate with local healthcare workers, speak with patients, order tests and medications, and transfer or discharge patients. The programme is also being piloted in Beaverlodge, Elk Point, and Lac La Biche.

The community lost their emergency room for a combined 266 hours in July.

This emergency department also experienced closures in May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of last year, and January, April, May, and June of this year.

Lac La Biche

Lac La Biche was next on the list. AHS announced on the 2nd that they were shutting down the the emergency department at the William J. Cadzow – Lac La Biche Healthcare Centre.

It was an announcement for 3 closures, actually.

Start	End	Hours
16:00, 2 July	08:00, 3 July	16 hours
16:00, 3 July	08:00, 4 July	16 hours
16:00, 4 July	08:00, 5 July	16 hours
		48 hours

Just 5 days later, they announced another 2 closures.

Start	End	Hours
16:00, 7 July	08:00, 8 July	16 hours
16:00, 8 July	08:00, 9 July	16 hours
		32 hours

Nursing staff were on hand for triage and assessments during all closures, as wells as referrals to emergency departments in other communities in the region, as needed.

Lac La Biche lost their emergency department for a total of 80 hours last month.

The community also lost their emergency department in June and August 2022; in March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2023; January, February, April, May, August, October, November, and December 2024; and January, April, May, and June 2025.

In May 2022, Lac La Biche also lost “obstetrical and surgical services for an undetermined period”.

Smoky Lake

On the 3rd, AHS declared that they were shutting down the emergency department at the George McDougall Healthcare Centre in Smoky Lake 5 times during July.

Start	End	Hours
16:00, 2 July	08:00, 4 July	16 hours
16:00, 10 July	08:00, 11 July	16 hours
16:00, 17 July	08:00, 18 July	16 hours
16:00, 24 July	08:00, 25 July	16 hours
16:00, 31 July	23:59, 31 July	8 hours
		72 hours

That’s a combined 72 hours for the entire month of July. Technically, the final closure went into August, but I included only the July portion of this article.

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, and June 2025.

Fort Macleod

Also on the 3rd, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department in the Fort Macleod Health Centre for 12 hours every day, beginning at 07:00 on the 4th and ending at 07:00 the 7th.

They did it again just 3 days after this closure. Luckily it was for just 9 hours this time, beginning at 22:00 on the 10th.

That is a combined 46 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, and June 2025.

Edson

On the 4th, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department at the Edson Healthcare Centre twice over the next week or so.

Start	End	Hours
13:00, 7 July	08:00, 11 July	19 hours
13:00, 11 July	08:00, 12 July	19 hours
		38 hours

This is the third time this community has had its emergency department closed since I began tracking closures in May 2021.

But it was not the last, with AHS announcing one final closure at the end of the month. The closure would run from 15:00 on the 31st until 08:00 on 1 August. The July portion of the closure was 9 hours.

Edson was without its emergency department for 47 hours in total last month.

The first time was in November 2024 and the second was this past January. AHS did close the surgical suites in this hospital for 53 hours back in August 2021 though.

Hardisty

On the 9th, AHS said they were closing the emergency department at the Hardisty Health Centre.

The closure was to begin at 07:00 on the 10th and not end until 07:00 on the 11th. That’s a total of 10 hours without an emergency department when you factor in that they are usually open only between 07:00 and 17:00 on weekdays.

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, including Killam and Wainwright.

Hardisty also lost their emergency department in November and December 2023; August and December 2024; and June 2025.

Beaverlodge

On the 11th, AHS said that they’d be shutting down the emergency department at Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital between 20:00 that night and 08:00 the following day, for a total of 12 hours.

A week later, on the 18th, AHS closed it again. In fact, they closed it 3 times.

Start	End	Hours
20:00, 18 July	08:00, 19 July	12 hours
20:00, 20 July	08:00, 21 July	12 hours
20:00, 21 July	08:00, 22 July	12 hours
		36 hours

And if that was not enough, they closed it a fifth time, at 20:00 on the 30th, opening it up 12 hours later.

That is a combined 60 hours that Beaverlodge lost their emergency department last month.

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 2025.

Fairview

Almost halfway through the month, on the 14th, AHS noted on their website that the Fairview Health Complex would have no on-site physician coverage in the emergency department the next day.

The closure was to begin at 07:00 on the 15th and end at 07:00 on the 17th.

But then, they announced the following morning that they found someone (or maybe multiple people) to cover the closure after 15:15 that afternoon.

So, what was announced as a 48-hour closure ended up being a little over 8 hours long.

Nurses were in the emergency department, however, providing triage, assessments, and referrals for patients to alternate emergency departments in surrounding communities, as needed.

The Fairview ER was shut down several times in 2021, including in May, June, July, and November; in January 2022; in October, November, and December 2023; an in February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2024.

Swan Hills

The next closure announcement came on the 15th, AHS posted on their website that the they were shutting down the Swan Hills Healthcare Centre emergency department every day over the next week.

Start	End	Hours
19:00, 15 July	07:00, 16 July	12 hours
19:00, 16 July	07:00, 17 July	12 hours
19:00, 17 July	07:00, 18 July	12 hours
19:00, 18 July	07:00, 19 June	12 hours
19:00, 19 July	07:00, 20 July	12 hours
19:00, 20 July	07:00, 21 July	12 hours
19:00, 21 July	07:00, 22 July	12 hours
		84 hours

AHS tacked on one more closure in an announcement on the 21st, but this one was to run for 3 days, beginning at 19:00 on the 26th and ending 60 hours later, at 07:00 on the 29th.

The combined length of all these closures was 144 hours.

All of these closures were caused by AHS having “a lack of clinical personnel”.

Swan Hills also lost ER service in January, February, May, July, and December of 2022; June, August, and November of 2023; January, April, June, August, September, October, and December of 2024; and January, May, and June 2025.

Mayerthorpe

According to an AHS announcement on the 21st, they were closing the emergency department at the Mayerthorpe Healthcare Centre from 11:30 to 19:00 that day.

This is only the second time AHS has closed this emergency department since I began tracking closures in May 2021. The first time was this past April.

Wabasca

During the last week of July, AHS announced that another community would lose emergency department service: Wabasca.

According to the announcement, the Wabasca Health Care Centre would have no emergency department service for 14 hours, beginning at 18:00 on 26 July.

They announced another closure the next day, just hours after the previous one ended. It began at 18:45 that night and ended at 08:00 the following morning, on the 28th.

Wabasca lost their emergency department the day after that, too, after AHS announced another “lack of clinical personnel”. The closure ran for 12 hours, beginning at 19:00 on the 28th.

That was not the last closure, however. According to AHS, this final closure of July would begin just 12 hours after the last one ended, and last for another 12 hours, ending at 07:00 on the 30th.

This emergency department was closed for a combined 51 hours and 15 minutes last month.

AHS indicated that these closures were because of a shortage of “clinical personnel”.

This community also lost emergency department service in January, February, March, April, May, June, August, and September of 2022; March and April 2023; and February and March 2024.

Ongoing closures

Keep in mind that these are just the closures announced in June.

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 372 hours in July.

Two Hills has had reduced hours since March 2024. It’s 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. That amounts to 550 hours in July.

Since September 2024, Elk Point has lost their emergency department for 25 hours starting at 07:00 every Wednesday. For July, that was 5 Wednesdays, for a combined 125 hours.

At the end of April 2025, AHS announced that they were opening the emergency department in the Bow Island Health Centre only on the weekend, closing from 07:00 each Monday until 07:00 each Friday. That amounted to 456 hours in July.

Finally, AHS said earlier this year that effective 5 February, they were going to close down the emergency department in Coronation for 24 hours every Thursday for the foreseeable future, as well as every weekend. This has since been adjusted to between 08:00 on Thursdays until 08:00 on Fridays, and again between noon on Fridays and 08:00 on Saturdays. For July, that came to 192 hours.