Hundreds of surgeries have been postponed or cancelled in a Victoria hospital due to an operating room about to undergo a two-month closure.
The Royal Jubilee Hospital is closing one of its 10 operating rooms from Sept. 5 to Oct. 27.
B.C. health officials said the temporary closure is due to staffing issues.
“We just don’t have enough nurses to get up to our normal levels,” Island Health CEO Kathy MacNeil told Global News.
Island Health estimates the number of surgeries being postponed is approximately 160.
Plans are in place to ramp back up to using an additional operating room at each of Victoria General and Royal Jubilee Hospitals in November.
Island Health says it is committed to ensuring that individuals who have their surgery postponed will be rescheduled as soon as possible.
“We are going to work very hard with our surgeons, (and) work hard on recruitment to make sure this has the least possible effect, and if we are able to open sooner … we will do that,” Dix said.
Dix met with staff at the hospital earlier this week, and acknowledged it’s not ideal to cancel any surgeries, though he said, overall, the system is performing well.
For perspective, there were 4,879 surgeries done across B.C. during the week of Aug. 6-12, 2022. During the same time span in 2023, there were 5,465 surgeries.
“There is pressure across the system because there is demand in the system,” Dix said.
“We’ve added significantly across the province … operating room nurses and everyone else … we’ve added more surgeries and there are more people needing surgeries.”
But the opposition is quick to point out they are still hearing every day from people waiting too long.
“Whether it’s waiting for a diagnostic test, waiting for a referral to a specialist, or whether it’s getting a family doctor … all of those are absolutely in crisis,” Shirley Bond, BC United’s health critic said.
