Hundreds Of Interior Health Patients Waiting For Surgeries To Be Rescheduled

In less than a month, between Jan. 17 to Feb. 11, Interior Health has postponed 1,382 non-urgent surgical procedures in response to the spike in COVID-19 infections.

About 25% of those cancellations were at Kelowna General Hospital and 12% at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

“We will resume non-urgent surgical procedures as soon as we are able and will prioritize rescheduling those people who had their surgery postponed,” the health authority said in an emailed statement. “Interior Health has previously exceeded all our targets for rescheduling patients who had their surgical procedures postponed.”

During the week of Feb. 6 to 12, 231 of the 320 surgeries postponed in B.C. were in the Interior Health region.

Part of the reason the cancellations were necessary was because staff were phoning in sick at a 20% higher rate than normal, presumably because some were sick with COVID.

There were also 895 Interior Health employees who were terminated in October because they refused to be vaccinated against COVID.

The number of COVID cases in Kelowna General Hospital is starting to fall, with 55 patients having positive COVID tests currently in hospital, three of whom are in intensive care.

In early February there were 85 people in Kelowna General Hospital with COVID.

The number of people in Royal Inland Hospital with positive COVID tests has increased this week to 41, with five in intensive care units. There were only 20 such patients in the first week of February.

It's estimated about half of the people in hospital who have a positive COVID test are not there because of COVID but there with COVID.

“Interior Health continues to monitor staffing levels throughout Interior Health and will be reviewing options to resume services that were temporarily adjusted very soon,” Interior Health said in the emailed statement.

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