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Alberta doctors disappointed general surgeries being diverted from Red Deer Regional Hospital


People in central Alberta needing specific surgery in Red Deer . Regional Hospital being redirected to other facilities.

According to Alberta Health Services, these measures are being taken due to a number of factors, including a “shortage of clinical assistants supporting the general surgery program.”

It’s a situation that some doctors say is unacceptable.

Dr Keith Wolstenholme, an orthopedic surgeon at Red Deer Regional Hospital, said: “It’s disappointing, it’s disappointing.

“Unfortunately, and without a better term, that sucks,” said Dr Glen Vajcner, the hospital’s general surgeon.

In a statement to Global News, AHS confirmed the diversion was “temporary”.

“Starting Friday afternoon, some surgical patients will be diverted from Red Deer Regional Hospital Center (RDRHC) to other locations to ensure they receive the care they need,” the statement said. write.

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“This is a temporary measure and AHS is working to resume normal surgical services at this site.”

AHS added that, depending on the individual’s condition, patients will be “redirected to other surgical sites within the CBD, including Camrose, Rocky Mountain House and Drumheller, or to facilities in Edmonton and Calgary.”

That is something that Dr. Vajcner is not satisfied with.

“That’s not what we as general surgeons want to do,” he said. “It’s something that a series of circumstances arise that we have to do for patient safety.”

Read more:

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AHS added that patients with scheduled procedures, emergencies that cannot be safely transferred, and call coverage for existing inpatients, will continue to be accommodated at the RDRHC.

“We acknowledge that this will cause some stress and anxiety for some of our surgical patients, however, we have made every effort to avoid this temporary diversion,” the statement said. father wrote.

At this time, the diversion is only for the general surgical program. The AHS says procedures include appendectomy, ileostomy, laparotomy and cholecystectomy.

NDP health critic David Shepherd said the news was devastating.

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“Alberts in need of care are being forced off the highways, forcing our EMS and potentially putting them at more risk,” Shepherd said.

Frontline workers say they share similar concerns.

“It is absolutely going to have a significant impact on care,” says Dr. Wolstenholme. “Red Deer Regional Hospital serves nearly 500,000 people in central Albert.”

“It’s like sitting with a hammer and not having any nails to hammer.” Dr. Vajcner added.

“General surgeons like to be busy, we love to work, we love to help people.”

In a statement to Global News, Health Secretary Steve Buick’s press secretary said the province is “working with AHS to fill the gap in staffing and bring surgery at this site back to normal as soon as possible.” the sooner the better.”

“Health systems across Canada are under strain after two years of the pandemic,” Buick said.

“At the same time, we found high patient numbers consistent with peak winter volumes. We are helping AHS hire more frontline staff, including an additional 1,800 nurses over the past two years and a total of another 2,000 to 3,000 this year with a $600 million increase in health spending in the Budget. 2022.

“We have also committed to redevelop the $1.8 billion Red Deer hospital.”

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But Dr Wolstenholme says more needs to be done to make Alberta an attractive place for health professionals who want to come and work.

“This can be avoided with long-term human resource planning, but we haven’t really done that yet,” he said.

AHS has not said when general surgery services will resume in Red Deer but added it is working to restore normal surgical services.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.





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