Here’s how WRH is trying to deal with surgery backlog challenges

Windsor Regional Hospital is providing an update for the community about a continued backlog of surgical procedures and their challenges in addressing the issue.

The backlog has been reduced below pre-COVID-19 levels, even though WRH is still not back to pre-pandemic operating room capacity.

As of May 19,2022, the backlog of non-urgent and non-emergency surgeries totaled 4,020, compared to the pre-COVID backlog of 6,370 in November 2019.

WRH says many efforts have been implemented to reduce this backlog including:

• Improved operational efficiency
• An increase in same-day joint procedures move of cataracts and other eye procedures to the community early on in the pandemic.
• WRH’s total staff compliment includes a 10% increase in frontline staff providing direct patient care (364 additional staff, now totaling 4158 staff as of May 2, 2022, up from 3794 in February 2020).
• The hospital has additional clinical staffing resources and they continue to look to add where possible, while competing with our hospital peers throughout the province for additional hires along with the United States.
• At the same time, WRH has added 35 additional medical/surgical beds with financial support from the government of Ontario and WRH is operating a further 18 medical/surgical beds (total 53 additional beds) and working with the government for more permanent funding to continue these beds.

WRH said these are some of the challenges that impact the ability to ramp up surgical volumes to pre-COVID levels:

• Currently WRH bed capacity is limited – hovering at or over the 100 per cent mark for the past several weeks at both campuses. Without available beds to place patients appropriately following surgery, they cannot safely proceed with some surgeries under these capacity limitations.
• The backlog concern is further exacerbated by a national anesthesiologist shortage that reduces this vital operating room clinical resource. WRH is working on recruitment efforts in competition with dozens of peer hospitals facing similar shortages across the country.

“WRH has been actively and aggressively recruiting for anesthesiologists for the last three years,” said Dr. Wassim Saad, WRH vice-president of medical affairs and chief of

staff. “Despite the national shortage, we are working on securing four new department members to begin in the fall. In addition, we continue to work closely with our partners in London to provide some level of short-term coverage.”

Based on the challenges they anticipate a prolonged period whereby WRH is unable to return to pre-COVID operating room levels.

Hospital officials say these issues do not interrupt emergency surgeries or cancer surgeries, which are always prioritized.

“The WRH surgery clinical leadership is working tirelessly on these issues but we thought it important to stress that your individual surgeon is doing all they can to book and

complete your surgery,” states a WRH news release. “These issues are outside your individual surgeon’s direct control.”

WRH sayas they will continue to work with your surgeon about schedules for patients requiring surgery.

“We ask for the community’s patience while we work to address these issues going forward,” says WRH.