Chatham-Kent Health Alliance officials say on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the province issued an updated directive to cease all non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures.
Hospital officials say the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance took immediate action to review its scheduled activity to ensure compliance with the directive.
“Unfortunately, this has resulted in some surgical cancelations this week,” hospital officials said in a media release.
“This direction is based on the increasing COVID-19 case counts across the province and the extreme acute and critical care capacity pressures hospitals are facing. These cancellations are likely to continue through the coming weeks until we begin to see a decline in patients requiring general hospital and critical care across the province.”
CKHA will continue to provide urgent and emergent services as well as the necessary programs/services to support those same procedures, for example, diagnostics and endoscopy, hospital officials say.
“CKHA relies on the clinical judgement of its surgeons to make informed decisions of which cases to proceed with during these postponements,” hospital officials say.
“Patients will be contacted in advance if their scheduled appointments are affected.”
CKHA officials added: “This temporary measure will create additional capacity within CKHA to respond to the urgent critical care needs that hospital partners across the region and province are currently experiencing. Beds at CKHA are a provincial asset and the hospital must take a regional approach to help save lives across the province. This includes accepting additional patient transfers from other regions to CKHA if needed.”
CKHA officials say they wanted to thank their patients, families and care partners for their understanding during these difficult times.
“CKHA asks that patients do not call the hospital regarding their procedures; patients will hear from their surgeon or CKHA if a change is required,” hospital officials added.
