Red Deer hospital on surgical diversion, patients being diverted to Edmonton, Calgary
CTV
AHS implemented the surgical diversion at 9 p.m. on Jan. 31. It says emergency life or limb cases as well as patients already admitted will not be diverted.
Patients seeking care at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre are being diverted to Edmonton and Calgary as the facility struggles with high patient volumes and staff shortages, according to Alberta Health Services.
AHS implemented the surgical diversion at 9 p.m. on Jan. 31. It says emergency life or limb cases as well as patients already admitted will not be diverted.
“This is not a decision that we take lightly, and it has only been made following extensive conversation and exploration to ensure all possible options have been exhausted,” reads a statement from AHS. "Cases being diverted are those where the patient can safely be transported for care."
“We recognize that such a diversion impacts our patients, who will receive care further from home than normal and in some cases, have a procedure postponed.”
The hospital’s elective surgery schedule will be reduced and a “small number of elective procedures” may be delayed to create capacity for more urgent cases, according to AHS.
It says the diversion comes “despite best efforts and exhausting all options to bolster [operating room] capacity at RDRHC and in surrounding rural sites,” and also noted “ongoing vacancies” with the hospital’s anesthesiology team.
“The site is currently unable to keep pace with the number of cases being placed on the urgent surgical add list. These are cases that need to be treated in less than 72 hours.”