Surgeries cancelled at Cambridge Memorial Hospital as staffing issues mount

Cambridge Memorial Hospital is pictured in a CTV file photo.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH) has cancelled several surgeries over the last two days as staffing pressures combined with bed capacity limits put pressure on the overloaded system.

“We had to cancel some surgeries to create space for patients,” said CMH communications manager Stephan Beckhoff on Wednesday morning.

CMH confirmed a total of eight surgeries have been cancelled over the last two days, with six cancelled on Wednesday and two on Tuesday.

The hospital confirmed the cancelled surgeries were not cancer-related.

The hospital is now asking non-urgent patients to look elsewhere for treatment while they deal with a high call volume and low staff numbers.

The emergency room filled up over the weekend as a higher than usual number of patients were admitted.

Stephanie Pearsall, chief nursing executive at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, said typically the hospital has been holding five to seven patients, sometimes going up to 10.

On Tuesday morning, the hospital was holding 22 patients.

That's the highest number ever waiting in the ER at CMH, which prompted the notice from the hospital asking the public to look for another care option if possible.

“We knew that we were going to be gridlocked, and to let them know that if they were not urgent … to explore some other options,” said Pearsall.

The issues are not limited to the emergency room.

“We did cancel surgeries, just so you are aware, we cancelled two yesterday and we cancelled 6 more today,” said Pearsall. “Which is really hard. These are patients that have been waiting a long time for this type of surgery. We have patients who planned their life around this surgery, so it’s our last resort, but we needed that bed capacity.”

“It’s hard, in healthcare we are here because we want to be part of a caring environment, and when you feel that every day, you can’t provide the care you want to provide,” said Pearsall. “It’s disheartening.”

Beckhoff confirmed to CTV News Kitchener some patients waited upwards of 13 hours Tuesday to receive treatment, depending on the severity of their case.

The hospital further confirmed it had 47 staff off work due to illness on Tuesday with 20 of those absences related to COVID-19.

The hospital currently has 174 job vacancies.

A number of hopsitals have seen closures recently.