Island Health is resuming elective surgeries with what it calls ‘new measures to keep patients, staff and medical staff safe.’
The health authority is now contacting patients to determine their health status, and whether they’re willing and able to move forward with surgery.
To limit the number of patients needing in-person pre-surgical assessments, Island Health is implementing new procedures for virtual assessments, wherever possible and appropriate.
These services will include virtual assessments, consultations and individual or group education sessions.
To slow the transmission of COVID-19, a number of measures are being implemented as part of the surgical process:
- When possible, patients will be assessed through a virtual pre-admission clinic by video conference prior to surgery.
- Modified scheduling and workflows to maintain physical distancing.
- Enhanced screening and assessment of patients prior to surgery.
- Surgeries will be scheduled with time to accommodate additional cleaning and infection control measures.
If your surgery was postponed, Island Health will call you to determine next steps. You’ll be rescheduled based on priority determined by your surgeon.
Island Health will resume elective surgeries after the May long weekend as part of the province’s Surgical Renewal Plan.
Across B.C., 30,000 scheduled surgeries were postponed to ensure capacity in provincial hospitals to support patients with COVID-19.
Roughly 4,000 of those surgeries are in the Island Health region.
