SRH chief of staff frustrated by cancelled surgeries

BY KEITH LACEY

The Sudbury Regional Hospital's chief of staff says a new committee has been formed to tackle the growing problem of cancelled surgeries.

"As you all know, there have been numerous cancelled surgeries...it's become very frustrating," said Dr. Chris McKibbon, speaking to the hospital's board of directors at its monthly meeting Tuesday.

He didn't name many of the reasons why so many surgeries have been cancelled, but did say it's become a very frustrating problem and resulted in a "reduction in care of the acutely unwell" and something needed to be done, said McKibbon.

A group of veteran physicians belonging to the Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), including McKibbon, and hospital administrators, including CEO Vickie Kaminski, has formed an ad hoc committee to address the growing problem of surgical cancellations, he said.

The committee has already met and come up with more than two dozen ideas and concepts to help reduce the problem, said McKibbon.

"We want to see what we can do to improve service," he said.

It's a fact of life some surgeries will be cancelled at any busy hospital, but this has become a significant point of frustration for many physicians and the new committee has enough good ideas to make a significant impact, said McKibbon.

Members of the committee are confident once good ideas are implemented, the number of cancelled surgeries at the hospital will decline significantly, said McKibbon.