Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH), and all hospitals in Ontario, will be postponing non-emergency surgeries and slowing down non-urgent procedures starting tomorrow until further notice.
CGMH president and CEO Norah Holder said in a news release there are some patients whose surgeries have been rescheduled two or three times.
“We understand this is very frustrating for the community, as all surgeries are important,” she said. “We are experiencing a new phase in the pandemic with the omicron variant spreading quickly through the South Georgian Bay community, but now we must begin redeploying hospital employees to other areas to maintain key services and programs.”
The Ministry of Health announced on Jan. 3 it was requiring all Ontario hospitals to postpone non-urgent surgeries in an effort to preserve health human resources.
This is the third time during the pandemic that Ontario hospitals have been ordered to ramp down non-urgent surgeries and outpatient procedures.
The hospital said it is unable to report how many surgeries will be cancelled under this latest directive.
The last time the province ordered non-urgent surgeries postponed, Holder told CollingwoodToday there were just under 500 surgeries and procedures cancelled (between April and May 2021).
According to the hospital’s 2020/21 annual report, 4,174 general surgeries and 257 orthopedic surgeries were performed at CGMH last year.
The Canadian Institute of Health Information has published several reports on the various ways COVID-19 has impacted healthcare systems in Canada.
According to their report on surgeries and hospital services, there were 560,000 fewer surgeries performed in Canada because of cancellations and delays during the first year of the pandemic.
The lowest dip was during the first few months of the pandemic with 370,000 fewer surgeries between March 2020 and the summer of 2020.
In Canada, cataract surgeries decreased the most with an average of 5,900 fewer surgeries performed per month, and hip and knee joint replacements dropped an average of 2,100 per month compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The CGMH release noted Ontario hospitals are in a dire capacity breaking point because of the volume of ill COVID patients and staffing shortages linked to sick employees and those required to self-isolate because of sick household members.
In Canada (excluding Quebec), inpatient admissions for respiratory conditions increased by 14,000 additional patients between March 2020 and June 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to data presented by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
By April 2021, 87 per cent of respiratory admissions to Canadian intensive care units were for COVID infections. Between April and June 2021, the demand for ICU care and ventilators for respiratory patients increased by 400 per cent.
Emergency and urgent surgeries will continue at CGMH. The emergency department will remain open, however, the hospital will not be providing COVID testing at its emergency department.
The hospital is instead directing people to contact the South Georgian Bay COVID-19 Assessment centre at 905-218-3572 or booking an online appointment at: https://chlscheduling.as.me/schedule.php.
Some outpatient services and diagnostic imaging appointments will continue but at a reduced capacity. Patients will be contacted by their surgeon's office or the hospital if their procedure is cancelled. Those who have not received a phone call to cancel their appointment should proceed as scheduled.
