More than a year after it was officially opened, Ksyen Regional Hospital remains short of enough specialized workers to offer one of the highest levels of trauma care available within the province.
The Level 4 trauma service designation requires enough surgeons, nurses, and support services to be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
It would mean those needing such a high level of service need not be flown out to hospitals that already have this designation.
The desire for a high level of trauma service emerged as a strong lobbying point for local and regional health care professionals and local governments when the planning and advocacy for a new hospital to replace the outdated Mills Memorial Hospital began more than a decade ago.
A provided statement from Northern Health said it was difficult to say how many more people are needed but that, in general, one position for 24-hour service every day of the year requires four people to account for vacations and other needs.
“This can be achieved a number of ways depending on call burdens and hours of work,” Northern Health added.
In the meantime, while Northern Health works toward a Level 4 service designation, the number of specialists, nurses and support staff already at Ksyen has allowed it to offer an elective surgery previously available only at Kitimat General Hospital in Kitimat and at Prince Rupert General Hospital in Prince Rupert for the Northwest.
Knee replacement surgeries began in the middle of last October in a specifically-designed and outfitted room for orthopedic operations also required as part of the high-level trauma service.
Northern Health said three orthopedic surgeons have now been recruited to work out of Ksyen Regional Hospital.
Latest information posted on the provincial government’s surgical waitlist web page as of Dec. 31, 2025 indicates two orthopedic surgeons are now replacing knees at Ksyen.
“The other existing Northern Health northwest sites are still performing elective knee replacement procedures. There may be a reduction in specific procedures at individual sites, but there will be no reduction in orthopedic procedures overall at any site,” Northern Health stated.
“For instance, if Kysen Regional Hospital takes a knee surgery that previously would have been done elsewhere, then that site would have the space to perform another orthopedic procedure.”
The health authority added that it is still too early to comment on how many knee replacements will be done at Ksyen each year or what the reduction in wait times for northwestern patients will be.
Eventually, the health authority continued, elective orthopedic services will include hip replacements and shoulder surgeries.
Ksyen was officially opened in the fall of 2024, and the health authority said costs have not strayed from the $634.6 million budget set out during construction.