The latest data shows that Guelph General Hospital has 4,095 patients waiting for non-urgent and non-emergent surgeries and procedures.
Of those, 2,400 are cataract day surgeries.
The latest figures on the impact that delaying non-urgent surgeries has had were released by Waterloo-Wellington hospitals on Tuesday.
Many surgeries were delayed to allow for staff and resources to be redeployed to areas they were more needed.
"Wait lists for surgical procedures were a challenge prior to the pandemic but have climbed throughout each wave. Across Waterloo Wellington, 15,937 patients are currently waiting for surgeries or procedures," says a news release. Of those, more than 56 per cent are cataract patients.
Broken down across hospitals, the backlogged cases are as follows (and do not include endoscopy procedures):
• Cambridge Memorial Hospital - 1,922 (1,337 are cataract day-surgery patients)
• Grand River Hospital - 2,254
• Groves Memorial Community Hospital – 176
• Guelph General Hospital - 4,095 (2,400 are cataract day-surgery patients)
• St. Mary’s General Hospital - 7,490 (5,286 are cataract day-surgery patients)
“We appreciate how difficult these surgical ramp down periods are for patients who are waiting,” says Melissa Skinner, VP patient services and chief nursing executive at Guelph General Hospital.
“We welcomed last week’s announcement by the province which outlined a plan to phase in gradual increases."
At Guelph General, cancer screening, some diagnostic procedures and some ambulatory care clinics resumed this week.
"We hope this is just the beginning and that over the next several weeks we will be able to gradually restart more and more. I can appreciate this may not feel soon enough for those patients and their family members who have been waiting so long. Our focus is moving ahead, carefully but with purpose. Our hope is to not only ramp up but do all the we can to plan to address the significant back log as well,” Skinner said.
