Hundreds of kids’ surgeries postponed

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This article was published 08/03/2021 (1733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s no comfort to the mother of an eight-year-old boy that the province is getting COVID-19-delayed surgeries back on track.

“I don’t want him to be in pain,” said Marina Havard, whose son Jayden has autism and is non-verbal. He has been in pain for months as he waits for dental surgery that was delayed. He needs to be “put under” for X-rays and dental care in a hospital setting.

“We don’t want to put him under, but it’s so hard to brush his teeth. We have a hard time opening his mouth. He cries and fights us.”

Jayden is one of hundreds of children whose surgeries have been postponed due to COVID-19. In comparing annual surgical volumes, the disruption in services resulted in approximately 11,000 fewer surgical cases during 2020 than the year prior, Shared Health says. The number of pediatric surgical procedures fell by almost a quarter.

At the Health Sciences Centre Children’s Hospital, 3,162 pediatric surgical procedures were completed in 2020, compared with 4,328 in 2019 — 1,166 fewer than the previous year.

“We are continuing to steadily increase surgical capacity at sites throughout the province,” a Shared Health spokeswoman said.

Of the 11,000 procedures delayed since the pandemic began, approximately 3,250 surgeries have been performed in addition to gradually resuming normal surgical activity, she said in an email.

Jayden’s parents have been waiting for a dental surgical spot to open up for him at Children’s Hospital so he can get his teeth examined and cavities filled. He was supposed to go last spring but it was considered elective surgery and cancelled because of the pandemic, his mom said. The health care system shifted hospital resources and staff to meet the needs of a rising number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients, and to comply with infection prevention and control measures.

Because waitlists for surgeries are managed by the individual surgeons, Shared Health can’t provide a summary of individuals waiting for surgery.

“Surgeons assessed and prioritized scheduling of cases based on patient need and individual circumstances,” the spokeswoman said. The province posts median wait times for scheduled surgical procedures — including cardiac, cataract and joint replacements — online. The current wait times reflect January data.

Meanwhile, all urgent and emergency procedures have continued throughout the pandemic, the spokeswoman said.

Jayden’s mom suspects there are other children with special needs such as their son who are hurting and waiting for dental surgery.

“How many kids are living in pain?” Marina Havard asked. They haven’t taken Jayden to the hospital emergency department because he won’t wear a mask, is too big to restrain for long waits in a waiting room and a doctor couldn’t do much to address Jayden’s dental issues in the ER anyway, she said.

“He has quite a few cavities and they’ve gotten worse,” his mother said. Jayden has been “very grouchy” since September, likely because he’s in pain, his mom said. The private pediatric dental clinic he goes to has told her they can’t get any surgery times at Children’s Hospital because of postponements due to COVID-19, she said.

The operating room director for Children’s Dental World in Winnipeg said it can accommodate surgeries for most pediatric patients but children with more complicated medical histories, or those that require a high level of medical caution, need to be seen at the Children’s Hospital.

“Those resources are limited,” Dr. Christopher Yue said in an email. The private pediatric dental clinic advocates for increased time at the Children’s Hospital to treat medically-complicated children but the time it is allocated historically has been short of the need, he said. That shortfall has been compounded by the delays and cancellations of elective surgeries mandated by the province since the COVID-19 pandemic began, he said. Yue and his colleagues will make themselves available to accept any operating room time offered by the Children’s Hospital to care for these patients, he said.

“Without doubt, accessing care for a medically-complicated child with acute dental needs is an immense burden for parents to bear,” said Yue.

Shared Health’s spokeswoman said Friday that they have not been made aware of any concerns regarding pediatric dental operating room scheduling or access from Children’s Dental World.

“We would strongly encourage Children’s Dental World to reach out to HSC Winnipeg to discuss any scheduling and access concerns they have.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca