Seven Nova Scotia emergency departments face closures

Seven emergency departments in rural Nova Scotia are closed for at least part of this weekend, according to the Nova Scotia Health service status page on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026.

The longest closure is at Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton, where the emergency department is temporarily closed and will reopen Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 a.m., the health authority said. The collaborative emergency centre at All Saints Springhill Hospital is also temporarily closed, with no reopening date posted.

Roseway Hospital in Shelburne closes its emergency department Friday and reopens Monday, Oct. 26 at 8 a.m. The emergency department at Strait Richmond Hospital in Evanston closed Thursday at 10 p.m. and is scheduled to reopen Sunday, Oct. 25 at 8 a.m.

Fishermen’s Memorial Hospital in Lunenburg closes its emergency department at noon Friday and reopens Saturday at 7:30 a.m. Digby General Hospital’s emergency department is closed until 8 p.m. Friday, and the emergency department at Eastern Memorial Hospital in Canso was scheduled to reopen at noon Friday.

Two other sites are affected Friday. The Annapolis Urgent Treatment Centre in Annapolis Royal is closed for the day and does not offer virtual urgent care, and the after-hours clinic at Eastern Kings Memorial Community Health Centre in Wolfville is also closed, Nova Scotia Health said.

Most of the hospitals with closed emergency departments offer virtual urgent care on site during the day. In Middleton it runs from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, while in Evanston it is available only on Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the health authority.

The status page does not give a reason for the closures. Nova Scotia Health tells anyone facing an emergency to call 911.

Hospitals in other provinces are also struggling to keep services staffed. In British Columbia, five South Okanagan neurologists quit Interior Health this month, and in Saskatchewan, Saskatoon City Hospital opened 20 beds while 49 more were delayed. In Montreal, the Jewish General Hospital has started offering virtual emergency visits.

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