Plans are underway to begin clearing up the surgical backlog at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA).
CKHA President and CEO Lori Marshall said operating room hours could be extended to evenings and weekends to begin chipping away at the estimated 2,400 elective and non-urgent surgeries that were put on hold since the start of the pandemic nearly 15 months ago. Marshall added optimizing existing hours in the operating room and hiring some new staff are also under consideration. However, she also said it's too early to tell how many more staff will be needed to address the renewed surgical plan and perform more procedures because the plan hasn't been finalized yet.
"The nursing staff would be a significant resource that would be needed as well as anesthetists to support the surgeons and then we have to understand what work the surgeons are interested in doing and if that's our existing surgical compliment or if there are also additional and new services that night come as a result of our new strategic plan," said Marshall.
Marshall added a lot of the lingering questions should be answered when hospital officials know what their budget will be for the coming fiscal year and what revenues they'll get from the province.
"That hasn't yet been confirmed to us. We need to understand what we would be able to work with in order to be able to provide care and services. We know this is a priority not only for us but also a priority for government and that's why we feel confident at this stage proceeding with planning but we really won't be able to finalize that plan until we understand where the revenues are," she added.
No date has been determined yet for the start of the new surgical plan.
CKHA also ended the year with an operating surplus of $1.8 million.
Marshall also noted that recruiting is underway for a new Chief Nursing Officer. The current Chief Nursing Officer Lisa Northcott will be retiring in the fall. Marshall said the national search is in the final stages and Northcott's replacement should be announced by the end of the summer or early in the fall. She added there have been several candidates "very interested" in coming to Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
