The Queensway-Carleton Hospital was forced to cancel nine of 14 surgeries scheduled for today because the hospital is over-crowded.
The hospital says the cancelled surgeries are the result of a 113 per cent occupancy rate, which includes a high number of seniors waiting to be transferred out of the hospital.
In the last month, the hospital cancelled 39 elective surgeries because high occupancy rates resulted in no beds for patients needing surgery.
The hospital's chief of staff Dr. Andrew Falconer says the hospital is dealing with the most alternative level of care patients – mostly seniors – it's ever had. Thirty-five per cent of medicine and surgical beds on Friday were occupied by patients who fall into that category.
ER backed up
Too many patients at the hospital are also leading to long wait times in the emergency department. For several days, nearly all the beds in the emergency room have been occupied by patients admitted to the hospital and waiting for a hospital bed.
The Queensway-Carleton emergency room only has 20 beds. Hospital officials say 14 to 19 of those beds have been unavailable to emergency room patients over the last few days.
Persistent problems
Falconer said the hospital has been operating between 105 and 110 per cent occupancy for more than one month, causing them to cancel more surgeries than they did last year alone.
"We have cancelled more elective surgeries in the past month than we did throughout 2009. We have had to make these difficult decisions daily but they are necessary in order to ensure we are not putting our patients at risk," he said in a prepared statement.
A gastro outbreak has also put additional pressure on the hospital, forcing two units to close.
Ottawa Hospital over-capacity
The Ottawa Hospital is also dealing with higher than normal occupancy rates, which has led staff there to cancel non-essential surgeries as well.
In recent weeks, the Ottawa Hospital has been operating at more than 105 per cent capacity.
While some non-essential surgeries are being postponed, officials at the Ottawa Hospital insist patients who require surgery for cancer and other urgent matters will continue as usual. The cancellations also aren't expected to affect any surgeries that were previously delayed.
Transfers and referrals to both the Queensway-Carleton and Ottawa Hospital are also now being reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
The situation at both hospitals will be examined on a daily basis.
