Non-urgent surgeries being postponed in Edmonton & North Zones due to COVID spikes

Aug 27, 2021 | 3:13 PM

EDMONTON, AB – Alberta Health Services (AHS) is advising people waiting to get non-urgent surgeries in two health zones that they will have to wait a bit longer.

Officials are having to create additional acute and ICU capacity at facilities in the Edmonton Health Zone and North Health Zone.

“This will result in the postponement of some non-urgent surgeries and procedures to ensure we have the beds and staff required to take care of all patients needing hospital care, including those with COVID-19 as well as other Albertans who are sick or injured,” reads a release from AHS.

In the Edmonton Zone, up to 30 per cent of non-urgent surgeries and procedures will be postponed starting August 30.

For the North Zone, 45 elective surgeries per week at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Grande Prairie will be put on hold as of August 30.

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Impacted patients will be contacted directly by AHS.

“AHS is currently working through the province’s surgical backlog brought on by the pandemic. For the last two months we have been operating at 100 per cent of pre-COVID-19 surgical levels, and have been performing more non-urgent scheduled surgeries.”

There are currently 108 COVID patients in hospital in the Edmonton Zone including 27 in ICU. The same is the case for 34 and four people respectively for the North Zone.

by David Opinko