Officials at Chatham-Kent’s hospital group are planning to gradually resume more non-urgent and elective surgeries, though some surgical staff are still redeployed to other areas of the hospitals.
The province’s chief medical officer of health recently lifted a directive that had paused some surgeries since the beginning of January due to the current wave of COVID-19. The directive was previously altered in early February to allow some surgeries to continue.
The announcement from the province noted these non-urgent and non-emergent surgeries will return with a “planned phased approach.”
In a statement on Friday, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance officials said some staff members who had to be redeployed have not returned to their regular roles.
“(The health alliance) continues to have a number of staff who are redeployed throughout the hospital from its surgical program filling base staffing needs to support the surge associated with this latest wave,” the statement said.
“The hospital’s ability to resume greater activity depends on the availability of beds and health human resources to provide the care and service required.”
The alliance indicated it must remain prepared to receive patient transfers while planning to resume these services.
“All hospitals may resume surgical and procedural activity up to 70 per cent of 2019 volumes, with consideration for staffing in other areas of the hospital,” such as medical and surgical wards or critical care, the statement said.
The hospital group also has to consider “equitable access for hardest hit communities and vulnerable populations,” according to the statement.
Officials plan to initially increase day surgery cases at the health alliance beginning the week of Feb. 14.
“As always, patients may expect to hear directly from their surgeon’s office when they are being scheduled for a procedure at the hospital,” the statement said.
In a media release, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said the province is in a position to resume surgeries due to a steady decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“We recognize the impact these measures have had on patients and together with our hospital partners we will ensure patients can continue to access the health care they need when they need it,” Elliott said in a statement.
Lori Marshall, the hospital group’s president and CEO, previously said pausing these surgeries for one month would take about a year to make up once normal operations can resume.