Queensway Carleton Hospital cancels non-urgent surgeries due to rise in COVID cases

Non-urgent elective surgeries at the Queensway Carleton Hospital have been put on hold for the next month. 

In a statement to CityNews, the hospital said surgeries that require a stay are being replaced by day surgeries. 

However, hospital officials say many of the surgeries cannot be moved to day surgeries, and as a result, the staff is trying to find out how far behind this will put hospital wait times. 

Queensway Carleton officials say they will also monitor the situation every few days to determine if they can go back to full surgical operations or if they will have to make further reductions to surgeries. 

QCH is postponing non-urgent elective surgeries that require admission for the next four weeks. These surgeries will be replaced with day surgeries which do not require admission. This was a difficult decision and we did not make it lightly. pic.twitter.com/GsJdwBaL9g

— Queensway Carleton Hospital and Foundation (@QCHOttawa) April 7, 2021

The statement went on to say that “we know it is difficult for those waiting patiently for needed surgery but we are hopeful things will get better soon.”