Photo: Colin Dacre
A surgical recovery room at Kelowna General Hospital.
A top surgeon at Kelowna General Hospital is grateful that the city has two more operating rooms, but is skeptical that they will make a significant difference with the delay in local surgery.
Dr. Steven Krywulak, head of orthopedic surgery at KGH, says the capacity and staff of the hospital remain a huge challenge without an easy solution.
“It’s a good thing, but they have to open up [the operating rooms] with funding for the beds, ”he said, explaining that the hospital operates at 120% of its capacity“ every day right now ”despite the calm of COVID’s activity.
When the hospital is so full, surgeries end up being canceled regularly simply because there is no place for patients to recover. Although surgeries are done every day at KGH, there is a big backlog that actually got slightly worse between Christmas and June, the surgeon said.
Krywulak said “a couple” of operating theaters in Kelowna are closed during the summer due to staffing limitations.
“The government wanted us to exhaust it completely. We said we can’t do it, because the nurses are exhausted and have no vacation.”
Although respiratory illnesses slow down in the summer, the best weather leads to an increase in trauma injuries as people go outside and drink more alcohol.
The hospital is expected to return to 14 operating rooms in September, which “has been a challenge for staff.”
At a press conference on Monday, Health Minister Adrian Dix was asked if the new operating rooms, two at KGH and three at Royal Inland in Kamloops, would have staff.
“Our expectation is that we will be able to meet the test of the new staff required at the site,” Dix responded. “The short answer is that we need to incorporate more surgeons, more operational nurses, and obviously the pre- and postoperative side of the system expands when you do thousands more surgeries: you need more people to perform those surgeries.”
Krywulak says that in Kelowna the hospital is blessed with numerous surgeons and anesthesiologists, but it needs the nurses and support staff who operate the operating rooms. And even if this staff can be hired, the capacity of the beds in the hospital will continue to be an issue.
“Every day I get a newsletter and it says the hospital is at 120%.”
“And what if we start doing more surgery? And then we have another increase in COVID … it will affect the hospital. “
“My view is that if the hospital is at 120% every day, you need 20% more beds.”
Krywulak says there is an entire floor of the KGH Centennial building, 6 East, that has never been developed, but that should probably be given to Kelowna’s rapid growth soon.
But he admits there is no silver bullet.
“If you’re in the government position, I’m not sure how you’re going to fix this problem. Nurses don’t grow on trees,” he said. “And you know, at least if they’re trying to open operating rooms, that shows a certain commitment to trying to do more surgery, trying to do things.”
“The NDP, despite all its failures, has a commitment to health care and is trying to get things done. I don’t know if we’re going to get much out of that. But that’s to be seen.”
The two new operating rooms are expected to open next year.