Montfort Hospital postpones non-urgent surgeries to free up bed capacity

The Montfort Hospital is postponing five to six elective surgeries per day for the next two weeks to help free up hospital capacity as COVID-19 cases surge in Ottawa.

The hospital in Ottawa's east end is the third hospital in the region rescheduling non-urgent elective surgeries that require the patient to be hospitalized.

In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, the Montfort Hospital said that starting April 6, they have postponed elective surgeries for at least two weeks.

"These elective surgeries are considered non-urgent and require the patient to be hospitalized afterwards," said the Montfort.

"By the end of the day on Thursday April 8, all impacted patients will have been notified."

The Montfort Hospital is filling the slots in the operating room with seven to 10 day surgeries a day that don't require the patient to be hospitalized.

"This measure is in place for two weeks and will then be re-evaluated," said the hospital.

The Montfort Hospital says the change to surgery schedules is in response to a request from the Ministry of Health to maintain a maximum capacity of 85 per cent to be ready for a potential wave of patients affected by COVID-19.  On Wednesday, the hospital was at 94 per cent capacity.

Both the Ottawa Hospital and the Queensway Carleton Hospital are also postponing non-urgent elective surgeries that require admission.

The Queensway Carleton Hospital has stopped non-urgent elective surgeries that require admission for the next four weeks, and replaced the appointments with day surgeries.

The Ottawa Hospital says 13 non-urgent elective surgeries have been rescheduled this week due to high hospital occupancy.

The Queensway Carleton Hospital was operating at 113 per cent capacity on Wednesday, the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus was at 99.8 per cent capacity, while the General Campus was at 96.1 per cent capacity.