PCs raise concerns about surgery cancellations after memo warns of bed shortage at Health Sciences

Manitoba's Official Opposition is raising concerns about the effect a shortage of beds at Winnipeg's largest hospital could have on surgeries.

A memo from Shared Health management to Health Sciences Centre surgeons, which the Progressive Conservatives tabled in the legislature Tuesday, notes "we have no bed base capacity," and says surgical slates are being cancelled.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by CBC, asks that staff look at slates for the remainder of the week at Health Sciences Centre to switch in-patient to outpatient surgeries.

"We need to optimize surgical discharges and flow through our surgical beds," the memo reads. It does not say how many slates will be cancelled.

PC health critic Kathleen Cook says she spoke with a surgeon earlier in the day who talked about the impact changing in-patient surgeries to outpatient would have on the health system as a whole.

The doctor, whom Cook chose not to name publicly, claims there are patients recovering from surgery waiting in operating rooms, and patients in the hospital's emergency room waiting for a bed "that they're not going to get," Cook said.

"It's a cumulative problem that just snowballs," she said.

"These are surgeries that have a direct impact on a patient's quality of life. These are surgeries that in many cases, people have been waiting some length of time for, surgeries to alleviate debilitating pain that takes people out of the workforce and out of their everyday lives."

Shared Health said memos like the one presented in the legislature have gone out in the past frequently to provide surgeons with "a picture of expected capacity levels" in the near future, according to a spokesperson.

However, "no surgical beds have been closed at HSC," the spokesperson said in an email to CBC.

"In fact, four additional surgical beds were opened at HSC on Oct. 1 and have remained open for the duration."

Cancellations can happen for a variety of reasons, including "patients not deemed medically fit for surgery, bed capacity and inclement weather," the spokesperson said.

Memos like the one the PCs tabled "proactively encourage surgeons to review cases to determine if they have patients who are medically appropriate for discharge, which in turn will support improved patient flow while optimizing upcoming surgical slates," according to the Shared Health spokesperson.

But Cook believes Manitobans should be concerned about how the NDP government is dealing with surgeries.

"They can continue to make excuses," she said. 

"They can continue to play the blame game, but they don't have any solutions to this problem."