Victoria’s two primary hospitals have successfully reopened one operating room each, following an extraordinary closure in September due to a staffing shortage.
Island Health has announced the reopening of operating rooms (ORs) at Victoria General Hospital (VGH) and Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH).
On September 5th, four operating rooms were temporarily closed resulting in the postponement of surgeries for 160 patients.
Although the initial plan was to reopen all operating rooms on October 27th, it has been decided to keep two of them closed.
There are now 20 out of 22 operating rooms running full-time across the two hospitals.
These additional ORs are expected to accommodate approximately 10 cases per day, with around 75 more surgeries scheduled for November.
Island Health said this increase in capacity was made possible by adding 15 additional days of OR time on an ad-hoc basis as staffing became available.
Throughout the closures, Island Health said they have worked at restoring operating rooms to full capacity. This effort includes the recruitment of nine new registered nurses, with an additional 11 RNs in the hiring process, collaborating with five more casual RNs to fill vacant shifts.
In addition to the OR closures, Saanich Peninsula Hospital extended its overnight emergency room closures in September due to staffing shortages, with no current plans for reopening.
“We know that short notice postponements of medical procedures have a negative impact on patients and their families,” said Island Health in a statement.
“We want patients to have certainty that when they have a procedure scheduled, it will take place as planned. We are committed to ensuring that people who have their surgery postponed will be rescheduled as soon as possible.”
