H1N1 postpones surgeries in Halifax

The largest district health authority in Nova Scotia postponed more than 30 per cent of its scheduled surgeries on Friday in an attempt to clear space to deal with H1N1 patients.

Of 98 surgeries, 38 were put off at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, part of the Capital District Health Authority.

Officials said as part of its pandemic response, the district was implementing a plan to increase capacity in the intensive care units to treat an increasing number of H1N1 patients. In addition, the hospitals are dealing with more sick staff.

"Capital Health usually runs close to 100 per cent bed capacity, including our ICU beds," said Chris Power, president and CEO of Capital Health.

"There is very little slack in the system so creating additional ICU beds and staffing those beds to provide appropriate patient care, has reduced our capacity for other surgeries to 45 per cent of what we would normally do," she said in a statement Friday.

The postponed surgeries included urology, ear, nose and throat, orthopedics, neurosurgery and cardiac surgeries. Patients are being contacted through their surgeons' offices if their surgeries are affected.

Power said the health district currently has seven swine flu patients on ventilators and it has dedicated two of its five ICUs to H1N1 patients. A third unit is being prepared.

Dr. Brendan Carr, vice-president of medicine at Capital Health, called the situation "unprecedented."

"We've been in situations before like with Hurricane Juan or other situations where we've had to, in a very short period of time, make some significant changes to our services," he said.

"But we haven't seen anything of this magnitude that is sustained over a period of time that we're facing here. So it is a new experience for us."