Surgery delays continue

A hospital bed crunch and staffing shortages continue to cause delays in surgeries in Nova Scotia.

Busy emergency departments and demands for hospital beds across the province are resulting in delays in care, including some surgical services, Nova Scotia Health said on its website.

“Staffing challenges also continue, including nursing vacancies, that have been made worse by the pandemic,” the release said. “Unfortunately, these pressures mean we must continue to delay some surgeries requiring hospital admissions and postpone some nonurgent procedures in some areas.”

There are thousands of staff vacancies in Nova Scotia's health-care and long-term-care system. In late September, government recruiters were looking for 172 doctors, 235 licensed practical nurses, 1,086 registered nurses, 12 nurse practitioners and 1,400 continuing care assistants.

In the release Friday, the NSH said in the central zone, 15 surgical beds remain closed while employees are reassigned to services with staffing shortages.

In the western zone, some surgeries have been delayed due to increased COVID-19 activity and staffing shortage.

In the northern zone, NSH continually reviews scheduled inpatient surgeries to ensure cases can proceed depending on capacity.

The increase in admissions also means that surgical beds are often used to care for other patients, NSH said.

“Cancer and other time-sensitive surgeries that cannot be delayed will continue but many elective and sameday procedures are on hold for the next several weeks. This is necessary to create the inpatient capacity we will require to maintain flow and allow for continued emergency care.”

Longer than usual waits for care in emergency departments are expected into the winter, particularly where there is an increase in COVID-19 cases and admissions.

But people should not put off emergency department visits, the release said. ERS at regional hospitals and the QEII Health Sciences Centre are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Some smaller sites experience periodic closures. Go to https://www. nshealth.ca/temporaryclosures for information.