Bed shortages force hospital to pay surgeons for nothing

Sault Area Hospital is being forced to pay surgeons and anesthetists for procedures that are cancelled because no beds are available for post-operative recovery.

The practise of partially re-imbursing the specialists has been going on for some time to prevent the surgical team from "falling apart," the hospital's board of directors was told Wednesday night.

When surgical staff show up for work and there's nothing for them to do, they tend to take "holidays," Dr. Howard Tait, chief of medical staff, told the board.

On Wednesday night, the board decided to officially endorse the payments, at the same time encouraging hospital staff to aggressively seek re-imbursement from the Ontario Ministry of Health.

The bed shortage, combined with the hospital's current shortage of anesthetists, resulted in 23 percent of operating-room procedures being cancelled for the period April 1 to July 31.

During the same period last year, Sault Area Hospital had a 14 percent cancellation rate.

Bill Walker, chair of the SAH board, is so upset at an 11 percent reduction in provincial payments for personal services that he wants Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Tony Clement to visit the Sault to show the hospital how to manage.