Surgery postponements of up to 60% in Alberta as COVID-19 cases spike

Alberta Health Services (AHS) has postponed scheduled surgeries and procedures across the province, as rising COVID-19 hospitalizations strains hospital resources.

All patients who are affected will be contacted directly by AHS, with the following zones being impacted:

• In the North Zone, surgical postponements of up to 60% are expected next week.
• In the Edmonton Zone, postponements of scheduled surgeries and procedures will increase to up to 50%.
• Central Zone will be postponing up to 40% of endoscopy procedures and up to 30 per cent of scheduled surgeries.
• Calgary Zone and South Zone are postponing up to 30% of scheduled surgeries, endoscopy and outpatient visits.

In addition to the postponements, AHS is working to open and staff additional acute care and ICU beds across the province, according to a news release.

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The Calgary Zone is opening five beds in the Pandemic Response Unit (PRU) located at South Health Campus to be used for day medicine patients, not patients with COVID-19. The day medicine spaces in SHC will be used for general inpatients.

Edmonton Zone is also preparing the PRU at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic to potentially open in the next few weeks. Patients who are recovering from COVID-19 and are deemed to be at low risk of transmitting the virus would be treated at the PRU if that additional capacity is required.