Faced with the growing number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19, the Center hospitalier universitaire (CHU) de Québec implemented its contingency plan on Sunday, which will result in the postponement of nearly 300 surgeries per week.
Surgeries and medical appointments will be postponed from January 5, the CHU said in a statement. The establishment made the decision to carry out load shedding due to the growing number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19, but also “the low room for maneuver in terms of maneuver”.
The activities of the operating room of the CHU will be reduced to 56%, representing the postponement of approximately 300 surgeries every week. As regards outpatient care, 50% of the appointments present will be postponed, or carried out by telemedicine. “This represents nearly 10,000 consultations or treatments that will be postponed or converted into telemedicine per week,” said the CHU de Quebec, in the same press release.
The healthcare establishment specifies that a patient prioritization process is in place. That is, each person’s file is examined in order to determine the impact of an additional delay on their state of health. “The cases deemed to have priority will be taken care of as required”, promises the CHU.
All patients whose surgery or medical appointment will be postponed will be contacted by phone.
“The current health situation forces us to make difficult decisions and I want to reassure the population that our priority [est] to maintain the best possible access to care, ”said Martin Beaumont, president and CEO of the CHU, in a press release.
Patients whose surgery or medical appointment has been postponed and who see their condition deteriorate can contact their pivotal worker, their family doctor, go to a walk-in clinic or to the emergency room, says the CHU de Québec . They can also contact a CHU telephone line reserved for them, at 418 649-5654 during the week, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.