WRH To Begin Pausing Non-Urgent Surgeries Beginning Monday, December 14th
11-12-2020
Due.to.a.rise.in in-hospital admissions of patients with COVID-19 and a potentially critical shortage of available acute care beds, Windsor Regional Hospital has made the difficult but necessary decision to once again postpone certain non-urgent surgeries for an indefinite period.
These temporary closures and postponements involve non-urgent, elective surgeries that require a bed/overnight stay. Day surgeries – those where a patient can go home the same day as the procedure – were stopped during the first wave back in March but will NOT be stopped as of this time. As with the previous postponement of elective surgeries announced at the start of the pandemic in mid-March, emergent/urgent surgeries, OBGYN procedures, and cancer surgeries are prioritized and will NOT be cancelled at this time.
The postponements affect surgeries effective 12:01 am Monday, December 14th. Patients will be contacted in advance if their scheduled appointments are affected.
“We will continue to reassess our capacity for surgeries based on volumes on a regular basis,” said Dr. Wassim Saad, WRH Chief of Staff. “We are doing our best to keep bed capacity available as our patient volumes increase during the second wave of this COVID-19 pandemic, while also conserving our hospital resources for the most urgent needs.”
“We know these measures are difficult and challenging for patients waiting anxiously for their scheduled procedures,” said WRH President and CEO David Musyj. “We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we implement these difficult and complex changes while we work to keep our local hospital system functioning and reducing the strain on our resources and staff.”
For more information on how WRH is working to protect the public from the unnecessary transmission of COVID-19, including COVID-19 Assessment Centre and visitor restrictions, please visit www.wrh.on.ca/coronavirus.
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