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Ontario Releases Plan to Resume Scheduled Surgeries and Procedures

Hospitals must continue to maintain capacity to respond to COVID-19

News.ontario.ca
May 8, 2020

The Ontario government has developed a comprehensive framework to help hospitals assess their readiness and begin planning for the gradual resumption of scheduled surgeries and procedures, while maintaining capacity to respond to COVID-19. Timelines will vary from hospital to hospital and be conditional on approval by regional oversight tables involved with planning and coordinating Ontario's response to COVID-19.

Details were provided today by Premier Doug Ford and Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

"We're taking a responsible and gradual approach to resuming scheduled surgeries, one that will keep our health care system strong, protect our frontline staff and patients, and ensure our hospitals stay prepared for any potential outbreak or surge of COVID-19," said Premier Ford. "We're asking each hospital to come up with a plan based on their community's needs and the trends they're seeing on the ground. Together, we can get surgeries back on track as soon as possible."

The framework, A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic, contains clear criteria that must be met before hospitals can resume scheduled surgeries, including ensuring that the hospital and its region have the following:

These criteria will ensure hospitals take a measured and responsible approach that prioritizes the health and safety of patients and health care workers, while maintaining plans to support long-term care homes in their region.

"Delaying scheduled surgeries was one of the toughest decisions we had to make as we responded to the growing threat of COVID-19," said Minister Elliott. "However, it was imperative to ensure our readiness to protect the health and wellbeing of Ontarians as we planned for a worst-case scenario. Due to the collective efforts of everyone to stop the spread of this virus, we are now in a position where we can begin to plan for ramping up surgeries."

As a first step, hospitals will need to assess if there is adequate staffing, equipment and other resources to resume scheduled care. This assessment will be revisited on a weekly basis to reflect changing needs and requirements, including responding to any COVID-19 surges that may occur locally.

The framework also sets out the criteria for prioritizing surgeries such as:

Hospitals are also encouraged to look for opportunities to improve care delivery for scheduled surgical and procedural care. This could include using services that reduce patient time spent in acute care settings, the use of virtual care, care in the community, post-op remote monitoring programs, outpatient care, and the use of e-consults services, virtual medical assessments and triaging.

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