Non-urgent surgeries at Brampton Civic on hold under new provincial COVID-19 restrictions

All non-urgent surgeries and procedures at Brampton Civic Hospital are on a temporary hold due to the province’s latest COVID-19 restrictions and staff shortages due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Osler, which oversees the operations at Brampton Civic Hospital and Etobicoke General Hospital, declared a “Code Orange” on Monday saying hospital demand outpaced capacity across the health system.

The health system suspended all non-urgent programs and services.

And while the Code Orange was declared over on Wednesday, the province’s new COVID-19 restrictions also include requirements for all Ontario hospitals to postpone all non-urgent surgeries and procedures to preserve critical care and human resource capacity.

Osler says all urgent procedures will continue, but the health system has again temporarily suspended all non-urgent services.

All affected patients are being contacted to reschedule their appointments, Osler said.

Osler president and CEO Dr. Naveed Mohammad said on Wednesday that the health system typically sees an increase in patients during the winter months, but a “significant” number of COVID-19 patients has “compounded the season surge.”

Mohammad said there were 105 COVID-19 patients across the health system as of Tuesday evening, and seven of those patients were in intensive care.

Of those patients, 68 are at Brampton Civic with five in ICU.

Another 86 patients were waiting on PCR testing results, and Mohammed said the total number of OVID-19 patients at Osler hospitals “could go up as the day goes on.”

Last week, three Mississauga and Brampton hospitals reported COVID-19 outbreaks.

Trillium Health Partners (THP), said two patients in Mississauga Hospital’s neurosurgery unit tested positive for COIVD-19, and a COVID-19 outbreak was declared in Mississauga’s the Credit Valley Hospital mental health unit.

The outbreak was declared on Monday (Dec. 27) and the unit is currently closed to admissions except for the 4J Surgical Spine unit, which will is on a heightened level of awareness.

And in Brampton, the Respirology unit of Brampton Civic was also placed on precautions last week.