Surgeon shortage prompting pause to some surgeries at Bluewater Health

A surgeon shortage is prompting a temporary pause to some emergency and urgent surgeries at Bluewater Health, officials say.

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Bluewater Health is shutting down urgent and emergency general surgery services Dec. 27 to Jan. 2, the hospital group announced Friday. Operating rooms remain open and elective and scheduled surgeries are continuing.

Patients needing urgent and acute general surgeries may be transferred to nearby hospitals in Chatham-Kent, London or St. Thomas, said chief of staff Michel Haddad, urging people still to visit hospital emergency as needed.

“If you’re sick, just come to the ER,” Haddad said. “It’s open 24/7.”

Patients are sent to different hospitals — including Sarnia’s from other hospitals — for specialty care every day, he said, noting Sarnia-Lambton isn’t big enough by population to justify having various specialists on hand to cover every case.

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Bluewater Health has kept a full, five-surgeon complement for general surgery — mainly for abdominal ailments such as appendicitis, pancreatitis, and gastrointestinal bleeding — during the years, he said.

“We’ve always tried to have 100 per cent local coverage for emergencies,” he said.

Since September, three general surgeons have left, two to other hospitals for personal reasons, and one retired, he said.

That’s a rapid decline in a short amount of time, he said, noting surgeons have to give three months’ notice.

“So, we had three months’ notice,” for the recent departures and retirement, he said.

“But we can’t generally recruit someone in three months,” he added. Doctors who graduated in July generally have secured jobs, and for working surgeons to leave other hospitals to come to Bluewater Health, they also have to give three months’ notice.

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“We’ve never had this issue before,” Haddad said about the shutdown.

Bluewater Health generally does fewer elective surgeries during the holidays, so “the ORs are slower,” Haddad said.

Locum surgeons who visit from other hospitals and take shifts have been helping fill the gaps, and the rest of January is covered, he said.

The remaining two Bluewater Health surgeons need a break, he said.

“You can’t expect two surgeons to cover for five and to be here to cover 100 per cent of the time,” he said.

Bluewater Health is in talks with five potential replacements, and hopes are to shore up local general surgeon numbers within a few months, Haddad said.

There continues to be enough nursing staff and operating room time available, he said.

“We just need to have enough surgeons.”

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