Southern Albertans may be facing longer wait times for surgery.
A local surgeon publicly voiced his concerns over the weekend, after the Chinook Regional Hospital lost three surgeons in recent months.
Dr. Anthony Gomes told the Calgary Herald this weekend that a serious staffing shortage at Chinook Regional Hospital may be negatively affecting patients.
“As it stands now, we’re struggling to keep up with the emergent cases of cancer and things like bowel obstructions, but elective surgeries for hernias and gall bladders just aren’t getting done,” Dr. Gomes told the Calgary Herald.
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But Alberta Health Services said it doesn’t foresee a significant impact on current or future patients.
“The number of surgeons available to do elective surgery, because they’re a little bit more on call for an urgent focus, our elective surgery wait times will have gotten a little bit longer over this period of about 6 months,” said Dr. Vanessa Maclean, Alberta Health Services medical director for the South Zone.
While the AHS has been working to recruit new surgeons and has already found two replacements, some hospital staff think it isn’t enough.
“The patients are now waiting months for surgery and the surgeons are overworked,” said operating room nurse Dolly Deringer.
“The surgeons are on call all night and they come back to do their full load the next day and there’s patients that are waiting months and months for surgery in the hospital so they’re suffering,” Deringer added.
The AHS said patients whose elective surgeries have been delayed can discuss options with their family physician, but their request for procedures will be honoured.
Dr. Maclean said there were a number of qualified applicants for the surgeon’s positions and two new recruits will be in place by September.
A new surgeon is scheduled to arrive in July, followed by a second recruit in August.
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