Five Neurologists Walk Out: Interior Health's Latest Staffing Crisis Hits Close to Home |
Doctors say region-wide on-call coverage imposed last month was the tipping point, in the latest in a string of Interior Health specialist resignations |

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The quick read: Five neurologists are leaving their positions with Interior Health, in another round of mass resignations at the health authority. Doctors of B.C. president Adam Thompson says the tipping point came last month, when all neurologists in the area were told they would have to provide on-call services to the entire health authority region, rather than just their own community, by phone and internet. The resignations were first reported by Castanet, which spoke with Dr. Niall Davidson, one of the departing neurologists.
Five more specialists are walking out the door.
Interior Health is dealing with another round of mass resignations, as five neurologists leave their positions with the health authority, according to CBC News.
The resignations were first reported by Castanet, which spoke with Dr. Niall Davidson, one of the resigning neurologists, about his concerns.
Doctors of B.C. president Adam Thompson corroborated both the resignations and the reasons behind them.
What pushed them over the edge
According to Thompson, the tipping point came last month, when all neurologists in the area were told they would have to provide on-call neurological services to the entire health authority region, rather than just their own community.
That decision came despite a number of neurologists telling Interior Health it was not a viable solution.
Thompson said the departing neurologists were being asked to provide on-call coverage by telephone and internet services, which raised concerns about workload levels.
That is a familiar story in this region: a central plan imposed from above, front-line doctors warning it will not work, and management pressing ahead anyway.
A pattern, not an isolated incident
This is not the first mass resignation at Interior Health.
Last October, all obstetricians and gynecologists at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops resigned over what they said was a growing workload.
That same month, four psychiatrists left Vernon Jubilee Hospital.
Seven pediatricians resigned from Kelowna General Hospital between 2023 and 2025, leading to an internal report published earlier this year that described an atmosphere of reduced trust and deteriorating working relations between physicians and Interior Health leadership.
When doctor after doctor leaves for the same stated reason, workload, the problem is not the doctors.
It is a management culture that keeps asking fewer specialists to cover more ground, with less support, and then acts surprised when they go.
Patients feel it first: longer waits, thinner coverage, and care that depends on a phone call instead of a doctor in the room.
Interior Health needs a plan that keeps specialists here, not one that stretches the ones who remain until they leave too.
Sources: CBC News; Castanet, as reported October 2026; Doctors of B.C. president Adam Thompson.
Photo credit: Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels |

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