Non-emergent and Non-urgent Surgeries and Procedures at SBGHC to be Paused in Response to Directive #2 Issued by the Provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health
In order to preserve critical care and human resource capacity across the Ontario health care system, the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) for the Province of Ontario has instructed hospitals to pause all non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures. This direction from the CMOH was provided under provincial Directive #2 which was released on January 5th, 2022. (Link to Directive #2)
The following table outlines the Phase 1 reductions that will be implemented at South Bruce Grey Health Centre (SBGHC) no later than Wednesday, January 12th, 2022. Patients will be contacted by SBGHC or your physician’s office to reschedule non-emergent and non-urgent surgeries and procedures.
| Department | Reduction |
| Laboratory | Chesley Site – Community Lab Collections reduced to 2 days per week (Tuesday and Thursday) Durham Site – Community Lab Collections reduced to 3 days per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) Walkerton Site – Community Lab Collections reduced by 50% |
| Diagnostic Imaging | Durham Site – Bone Mineral Density (BMD) Testing Reduced Walkerton Site – Screening Mammography reduced by 20% Kincardine Site – Screening Mammography/BMD reduced by 20% |
| Cardiorespiratory | Durham Site – Cardiorespiratory Testing reduced by 20%Kincardine Site – Cardiorespiratory Testing reduced by 20% |
| Physiotherapy | Kincardine/Walkerton Sites – Outpatient Physiotherapy reduced by one day per week |
| Surgical Services | Only high priority procedures will be completed. |
With these reductions, staffing resources will be freed up to create capacity for additional inpatient beds to care for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.
The Province of Ontario is seeing a significant increase in acute care admissions both inside and outside of Intensive Care Units (ICUs). As modelling is developed and refined, there is concern that if admission trends continue to rise at this rate, the healthcare system could see a demand for additional general internal medicine (GIM) beds in excess of our current supply by mid to late January 2022.
The following will be utilized while creating plans to reduce services:
- Health Human Resources (HHR) will be made available for urgent and emergent care, and support any required expanded care capacity.
- The hospital is ready to accept patient transfers as directed by Incident Management System (IMS) structures to support capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The hospital is committed to continued collaboration with partners across the region to support a provincial approach to health system capacity.
- Ensuring that critical supplies are sufficient to meet both current usage and projected requirements.
Capacity, equity to care, HHR availability, as well as what is happening regionally and provincially will be monitored closely in the coming days and weeks. It is important to note that these plans may require revision and escalation should the HHR situation worsen over the coming days and weeks. Regular updates will continue to be provided by SBGHC through social media and our website.
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