Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK
February 18, 2022 - 2:00 PM
Starting Feb. 23, Interior Health will start rescheduling non-urgent surgeries that have been postponed since Jan. 17.
It’s expected that full service in the surgical area will be up and running over the following two weeks, according to an Interior Health news release issued today, Feb. 18.
As of yesterday, 1,382 such surgeries had been postponed in the region, with 25% at Kelowna General Hospital and 12% at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.
READ MORE: Hundreds of Interior Health patients waiting for surgeries to be rescheduled
The release did not say when the backlog would be gone.
A number of other service cuts are being restored over the coming weeks.
“The Omicron-driven COVID-19 staffing impacts on the health system are beginning to subside and Interior Health can now resume services that were temporarily paused last month,” Susan Brown, Interior Health president and CEO, said in the news release. “We are working with impacted communities this week and assigning staff back to their regular roles throughout the region following a phased approach that brings services back in a safe and planned way.”
Inpatient services will reopen in Clearwater on Feb. 23 and Lillooet on March 14;
Primary care services at the Barriere and District Health Centre will return to normal on Feb. 23 and outpatient lab services there will return to five days a week, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Other outpatient, adult day programs and non-urgent home health services will resume in other locations. Affected clients will be contacted.
Overnight services at the Ashcroft and Slocan Community Health Centres will continue to be temporarily reduced.
Updates on service changes can be found here.
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