Ottawa Hospital surgery backlog surpasses 18,000
Posted May 12, 2021 11:26:00 AM.
More than 18,000 Ottawa-area patients are waiting for surgeries that have been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's not clear when that backlog will be cleared.
The area's three adult hospitals — The Ottawa Hospital, Hôpital Montfort and Queensway Carleton Hospital — postponed non-urgent surgeries and services, due to a directive from Ontario Health.
A statement from The Ottawa Hospital said, in part, that the procedures that have been postponed were “selected on a set of clear criteria to carefully consider the health-care needs of patients while maintaining their safety.”
The hospital said it's difficult to predict what the backlog will look like in the future because the Ontario Health directive to postpone non-urgent surgeries remains in place.
