2 new operating rooms coming to Kelowna General Hospital

Kelowna General Hospital will get two more operating rooms as the province works to increase the number of patients receiving surgeries faster and closer to home, the province announced Monday.

2:07 Hospitals under a lot of pressure due to the staffing shortages.

The Interior Heart and Surgical Centre at KGH has existing space available to add two more ORs, increasing the number from 14 to 16.

The new ORs are expected to be open in spring 2023 following the installation of additional surgical equipment. Once fully operational, the two ORs will support an additional 3,600 OR hours or approximately 2,500 surgeries annually at KGH.

Kamloops will also get three new ORs and Susan Brown, president and CEO of Interior Health, said all are welcomed by staff and patients alike.

“Our hospitals continue to feel the pressures created over the last few years as we postponed surgical services to focus on critical care, which is creating a surge in demand for these services today,” Brown said.

2:21 KGH emergency room doctor paints concerning picture involving staffing levels and capacity issues

“The additional funding will help meet our commitment to drive down wait times for patients and increase our capacity on an ongoing basis.”

In May 2020, the government launched its $250-million plan to increase surgical capacity to address postponed non-urgent scheduled surgeries due to the COVID-19 pandemic and meet the growing demand for surgery.

In addition to the added surgical capacity in Interior Health, the government has increased funding by $2.9 million to help support additional staff in the intensive care unit, emergency department and hospitalist program at Royal Inland Hospital, as well as additional incentives to attract staff to RIH.

Currently, however, staffing remains an issue. This weekend there were multiple ER closures in B.C. where staffing was named as the problem.

Some B.C. hospitals had to scale back emergency room services this weekend due to staffing shortages.

On Vancouver Island, the emergency department at Port McNeill’s hospital was closed overnight, starting at 3 p.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. on July 17.

The emergency room at Ashcroft’s hospital was on diversion for the entire weekend.

The Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital in Clearwater went on diversion Friday night, marking the fifth time this month it’s had to scale back services.