Bluewater Health is preparing to tackle a "tremendous backlog" of surgeries and procedures put on hold as a pandemic precaution.
As the number of COVID-19 patients steadily de-escalates, President and CEO Mike Lapaine said they're turning their attention to an estimated 1,600 patients awaiting procedures ranging from relatively minor to major.
He told Sue Storr on CHOK (103.9 FM, 1070 AM) Tuesday that they're mobilizing teams this week to rank and prioritize surgeries to clear the backlog as soon as possible.
"What we know is that many patients have had procedures postponed or visits postponed, particularly in surgery or in our clinics or diagnostic imaging areas," said Lapaine. "So we're anxious to get those up and running soon. We have to wait for the provincial green light but I think there are a lot of signals right now coming provincially that we may be moving into stage one very soon."
Lapaine said part of the first stage of Ontario's three-stage reopening would be reintroducing elective surgeries.
"We have continued to do some surgeries particularly on cancer patients but I think a broader definition of what would qualify as an urgent surgery will be used in stage one. So we will start to do more surgeries, patients will start to come back to their clinics, there are many patients that frequently visit our ambulatory clinics, and of course diagnostic imaging."
Lapaine said affected patients will be contacted but he stressed it won't be business as usual for a while at the hospital and very controlled access will continue, to guard against a second wave of the virus.
He said how patients access and interact with the healthcare system in six months or a year from now could look very different.
"The impact on change that has occurred over the last two months will be quite widespread and even go beyond the hospital. I know many patients are having their visits with their family doctor virtually, will virtual visits be something that we would expect more of? Similarly, we've been working with public health and the long-term care sector in providing supports wherever possible," he said.
As of Tuesday, there were nine patients still in hospital with COVID-19, down from a peak of 32, and 14 suspected of having it with tests pending.
The number of patient deaths remained at 14. The area's 15th death, reported Tuesday, was not an in-hospital case.
-With files from Sue Storr