Lakeshore General to stop elective surgeries as staffing shortage crisis sweeps across Quebec
CBC
Lakeshore General Hospital will stop offering elective surgeries on Monday due to staffing shortages, and it is not the only medical facility in Quebec that is currently facing service disruptions.
In a statement, the regional health authority for Montreal's west end says it needed to close the hospital's two operating rooms due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases it is seeing.
The CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal is reviewing the services it can offer daily, the statement says.
Elizabeth Rich, vice president of the nurses' union at Lakeshore, says she was told the operating room will only be open to emergencies and to treat cancer patients.
This is so available staff can be shifted to the intensive care unit and emergency room, she said.
"Forced overtime is a daily thing. I think people are just exhausted. They're exhausted, and their only way out is to either go on sick leave or just quit," said Rich.
Rich doesn't know when elective surgeries might resume.
