High Surgical Burdens and Staff Shortages Cause Patients to Move Out of Red Deer | The Canadian News

Alberta Health Services says the patient care situation in Red Deer has stabilized as of Monday morning.

Over the weekend, 14 surgical patients had to be transferred from the Red Deer Regional Hospital Center (RDRHC) to the Calgary and Edmonton hospitals in an effort to reduce patient wait times.

All the patients airlifted were in stable condition and emergency cases were still being handled in Red Deer.

AHS spokesperson Kerry Williams said in a statement that the situation stabilized at 8 a.m. Monday.

“RDRHC has had a higher-than-normal number of patients needing surgery, which has been compounded by ongoing vacancies in OR staff that have impacted the number of procedures that can be performed in Red Deer,” Williamson said.

“The site is working to perform additional surgeries this week with all available staff supports, as well as increasing OR time at other sites in the Central Zone, such as Olds Hospital and Care Center.”

AHS said it continues to actively recruit additional staff to support increased surgical volumes at the hospital, in addition to providing additional in-house training for staff through an operating room training program developed on site.

At the provincial level, efforts continue to increase surgical volumes and return to pre-pandemic numbers to help ensure that Albertans requiring surgery receive it within the clinically appropriate timelines.