Ontario Hospital Association Statement Regarding Access to Hospital Services on February 11 Update

Ontario Hospital Association
200 Front Street West, Suite 2800
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3L1
Tel: (416) 205-1345 Fax: (416) 205-1360
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Thursday, February 10, 2005

TORONTO - Hilary Short, President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association, today issued the following statement:

"The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) has completed its survey of hospitals on the potential impact on operating rooms and access to scheduled procedures as the result of the February 11 meeting of anesthesiologists.

Given the appropriate notification process that must take place between physicians and their patients regarding the rescheduling of procedures, the OHA is not in a position to release a list of hospitals expecting operating room closures. The OHA does not have information regarding the number of procedures being rescheduled, or the timelines for rescheduling these procedures, and therefore cannot comment on these issues.

Finally, we caution against assuming that the results of this survey are definitive, as circumstances at individual hospitals could change between today and February 11.

There are 159 public hospitals in Ontario, 135 of which have significant surgical capacity. As of 9:00am today, 27 hospitals expect operating room closures on February 11.

These 27 hospitals have a total reported capacity of 252 operating rooms. These hospitals expect that 179 operating rooms (71% of their total reported operating room capacity) will be closed on February 11.

The potential impact varies across regions of Ontario.

Hospitals will maintain emergency and critical care anesthesiology services.

Impact is currently anticipated to be most significant in the Greater Toronto Area due to the concentration of operating room capacity and population. The reported potential impact is expected to be most significant in large community hospitals. Teaching hospitals in the GTA will be largely unaffected.

Hospitals in rural and Northern Ontario, most of which are served by General Practitioners who are able to provide anesthesiology services, will also be largely unaffected."

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For further information:
OHA Public Affairs
416-205-1305