The Whitehorse General Hospital is extending its hours for doing surgeries by five hours a day between its two main operating rooms — with a goal of completing more procedures this year than ever before at 4,400 surgeries.
According to an update on the Yukon Hospital Corporation website and posted to social media, the expansion at the two main rooms will better position the hospital to juggle rising demands, improve patient care and reduce the strain on teams and hospital resources.
The hours at the third, smaller operating room remain unchanged.
The hospital's planned “annual summer slowdown” already took place over two weeks this summer, a hospital spokesperson said.
New positions were added as part of extending the surgical hours, including full-time nurses, medical device reprocessing technicians and additional help with operating room booking and registration.
The update indicates that through the Yukon’s health human resources strategy, a plan to get and keep health-care workers in the territory, the hospital has recruited “several” permanent staff to reduce the hospital’s reliance on more expensive temporary agency staff.
“These new roles are critical in ensuring that the extended hours run smoothly and that our patients continue to receive the highest standard of care,” the hospital update reads.
“This initiative also allows us to relieve some pressure on and provide greater flexibility for our dedicated staff, while ensuring that urgent and emergent cases are addressed promptly.”
As demand for hospital services keeps going up, expanding surgical hours is just one way to meet that need. However, wait times and hospital capacity continue to be impacted under pressure, the update notes.
Support and funding in the 2024-25 budget from the Yukon government helped make this year’s expansion of surgical hours possible, as noted by the hospital spokesperson.
A Yukon government press release notes the added staff and extended surgical hours are set up to shorten wait times and allow Yukoners to get critical care in a timely manner without having to leave the Yukon.
The release states this move is part of an ongoing year-over-year rise in the number of procedures done in the Yukon.
The release credits the Yukon government taking action alongside the hospital corporation to ensure "sustainability and effectiveness" of the health system.
For example, the release cites an August move by the Yukon government and the hospital corporation to "add 12 new long-term care rooms at Whistle Bend Place and five acute care beds at Thomson Centre."
In fact, by reconfiguring existing spaces through minor renovations and moving furniture, two new long-term care rooms and five new acute care beds opened in Whitehorse, Yukon government communications previously confirmed. That includes 12 rooms in total at Whistle Bend Place including the 10 relocated from Thomson Centre.
In at least two letters sent to Premier Ranj Pillai, the authorities were criticized over the unexpected move with little notice given to affected hospice clients and long-term care residents.
The extended surgical hours at the Whitehorse hospital began Sept. 9.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
