Some orthopedic surgeries that were scheduled to take place at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton have been postponed, Alberta Health Services said Wednesday.
AHS described the procedures affected as “elective” and said they include arthroplasty hip, knee, and shoulder cases, and spine cases.
AHS said the postponements were made because of “a decision by the University of Alberta School of Medicine to consolidate the on-call component of its orthopedic residency training program at the University of Alberta Hospital.”
AHS said it does not inform nor direct the decisions.
“AHS is working hard to find alternative coverage. Urgent and emergency surgeries will continue at the site,” the health agency said in a statement to Global News on Wednesday.
“We acknowledge that this is extremely frustrating to those impacted patients, and we apologize for any disruption these postponements will cause. We are working hard to get those impacted patients rescheduled as quickly as possible.”
In the Edmonton Zone, arthroplasty hip and knee surgeries are continuing at the Misericordia Community Hospital, AHS said. Arthroplasty shoulder surgeries are continuing at the Sturgeon Community Hospital and the University of Alberta Hospital.
AHS said it is exploring additional orthopedic surgery capacity elsewhere.
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