Surgeries at London's Children's Hospital being cancelled

Surgical activity at London's Children's Hospital is being reduced because of a lack of inpatient beds.

Surgical activity at London's Children's Hospital is being reduced because of a lack of inpatient beds.

According to a statement from London Health Sciences Centre, “The difficult decision was made to reduce surgical activity as of late last week.”

Occupancy levels for inpatient beds at Children’s Hospital are reportedly sitting at 115 per cent.

Daily visits to the emergency department are 80 per cent higher than normal with wait times averaging six to eight hours, according to Children’s Hospital.

“This is an extremely difficult decision and one that I wish we didn’t have to make,” said Nash Syed, president of Children’s Hospital. “The decision to reduce surgical activity is necessary to ensure our teams are able to meet critical care and emergency needs.”

Administrative teams will be contacting families whose scheduled procedures will be affected.

The statement from the hospital goes on to say, “As the situation evolves, we will continue to evaluate and adjust operational decisions accordingly.”