Power problem delays 37 surgeries
All of today’s scheduled surgeries and procedures at Royal University Hospital are cancelled as the fallout continues from a failure in the hospital’s power system.
Although workers have restored power to medical systems affected by Tuesday’s malfunction, water pumps and steam heat in the 1978 portion of RUH aren’t working properly, according to a Tuesday evening press release from the Saskatoon Health Region.
A paralyzed water system means the hospital is unable to properly sterilize surgical equipment.
RUH is saving its stock of sterile instruments for emergency surgeries and any trauma cases that arrive at the hospital, vice-president of integrated health services Jackie Mann stated in the release.
A total of 37 surgeries, which were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, have now been postponed at the hospital.
During a planned overnight shutdown of the hospital’s electrical system on Monday, a power failure occurred in a distribution panel in an area workers had not expected. The planned shutdown was part of ongoing electrical upgrades at RUH, some components of which haven’t been upgraded since the hospital opened its doors.
Several systems, including medical suction and air flow in the building (most notably in operating rooms), was affected, according to Nilesh Kavia, vice-president of finance and corporate services for the health region. The region will reschedule patients’ cancelled procedures as soon as possible.
Emergency surgeries were still taking place Tuesday, and emergency surgeries will also take place at RUH today, a spokesperson confirmed.
Diagnostic imaging procedures scheduled at RUH today will go ahead, as will unplanned caesarean sections.
The region may sterilize some surgical equipment at one of its other hospitals.
The cascade of problems at Saskatoon’s main trauma hospital prompted the Opposition NDP to accuse the Saskatchewan Party government of ignoring nearly $2 billion worth of infrastructure problems at hospitals and health facilities in the province.
“The time is overdue for this government to start taking its infrastructure problem seriously,” NDP health critic Danielle Chartier stated Tuesday in a press release, referencing an unreleased report from consulting firm VFA that she said describes $1.9 billion in needed repairs across Saskatchewan.
The NDP claims the government has acknowledged the report; it’s “being kept under wraps,” Chartier said.
“The government continues to put all faith, time and money into its lean pet project while ignoring the basics, and buildings like RUH are literally crumbling,” Chartier said.
The StarPhoenix has repeatedly requested access to the data and conclusions of VFA’s report, which engineers handed over to the Ministry of Health last fall. No information from the report has been released.
Tuesday’s breakdown is one of many systemic problems to crop up at the aging building during the past few years.
The power problem knocked out several systems, including the operating room fans, which put surgeries on hold.
Suction, air flow and hot water were also affected. By late Tuesday morning, suction and air flow were running again, and temporary measures were in place to provide hot water. The hospital’s sump pump was also off-line, and a contractor had been called in to remove about an inch of groundwater that had seeped in the subbasement.
Last fall, the heating system was replaced and the hot water system repaired at RUH, which was built in 1955.
Both systems failed last summer, as did the backup power supply. At the same time, the facility suffered an unrelated electrical breakdown. The electrical outage last summer knocked out the region’s computer systems, causing delays.
The region has also put protective nets on brickwork around the hospital after pieces of the wall began crumbling off.
The health region also heard multiple complaints about the cleanliness of the hospital earlier this year.