Local hospitals won't resume non-urgent medical procedures Monday

A patient in hospital is shown in this file photo.

KITCHENER -

The province announced Thursday that some health services, like non-urgent surgeries, could resume as early as Monday. They were paused earlier this month to help hospitals prepare for a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, and the pressure those patients could put on the healthcare system.

Hospitals in Waterloo Region and Wellington County, however, are not ready to reschedule non-urgent procedures.

"While many hope that next week's gradual reopening is the start of a journey out of this pandemic, I need to caution that our local health care system continues to operate under significant pressure," said Patrick Gaskin, the president and CEO of Cambridge Memorial Hospital in a media release. "We are unfortunately not in a position to start non-urgent services and procedures."

Officials cite several ongoing challenges, including a "large" number of patients requiring continued hospital care even after they are no longer infectious and an increase in staff members impacted by COVID-19.

In Waterloo Region, Friday's update from public health showed 133 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. There are also 24 people receiving medical treatment in an ICU.

Waterloo Region and Wellington County have 10 free ICU beds as of Friday morning, but are short 19 medical/surgical beds for patients.

"Specific to Waterloo Wellington, four hospitals are caring for a large number of COVID patients, managing active outbreaks, supporting the emergent care needs of our community, while addressing the challenges of the number of staff off due to COVID," said Gaskin in the release. "For these reasons, we are unable to begin to ramp up services or relax our visitor policies until these pressures subside."

Those hospitals include St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, Cambridge Memorial Hospital, Guelph General Hospital, and the Wellington Health Care Alliance (which includes Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Fergus, Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest, and Palmerston and District Hospital).

Thursday's announcement would allow hospitals to take a phased approach to resuming non-urgent surgeries and procedures, as well as pediatrics, diagnostic services, cancer screenings, some ambulatory clinics, private hospitals and independent health facilities.

Hospitals in Waterloo Region and Wellington County will continue to focus on urgent and emergent procedures, but plan to review other services including imaging.

"With Omicron, we continue to see high numbers of people impacted, including some of the highest numbers of daily deaths and admissions to ICU yet in the pandemic," said Lee Fairclough, the president of St. Mary's General Hospital and lead for Waterloo Wellington's hospital COVID-19 response. "We aren't through this yet. All hospitals are working across our region to help each other to care for high numbers of patients. The vaccine and public health measures continue to be an important part of being able to get there."