Halifax hospital to prioritize surgeries cancelled by sterilizer problems

Most of the surgeries cancelled because of a sterilizer malfunction at the Queen Elizabeth IIHealth Sciences Centre in Halifax will be completed over the next couple of months, the health authority announced Thursday.

Between April 20 and May 5, 563 surgerieswere cancelled.KarenMumford, the senior director of theQEII,says around 80 surgeries have been completed, and another 80 to90 have been rescheduled.

In a statement, the Nova Scotia Health Authority said senior surgeons and administrators created a plan to minimize wait times.

The plan includes:

• Additional operating room time at the QEII over the summer.
• Using operating rooms atNova Scotia Health Authorityfacilities nearthe QEII.
• Using external facilities(they will be limited to Scotia Surgeries' facilities).
• Scheduling to provide operating roomtime for postponed patients, with urgent patients being given priority.
• If there is a cancellation, urgent and postponed patients get priority

Mumfordsays the hospital is still seeing as many cases as they normally do100 to 120 a day. She said they have to plan and budget around the equipment they have.

For example, Mumford says they don't have the capacity to do five hip surgeries back-to-back because they require the same tools. Day surgeries can be done at other facilities.

Dartmouth General already does day and inpatient surgeries. HantsCommunity Hospital does day surgeries.

The Halifax Infirmary will get a new $500,000 sterilization system to replace malfunctioning equipment that has caused these delays.