Update on Service Interruptions at Stanton Territorial Hospital

(Yellowknife, April 24, 2019) – On April 17th the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority announced service interruptions related to Computed Tomography (CT Scans) and Instrument Reprocessing (i.e. instrument sterilization) services at Stanton Territorial Hospital.

The following provides an update on both of these services:

CT Scanner

Stanton’s CT scanner was put back into operation on Saturday, April 20, 2019. Regularly booked scans will go forward as scheduled.

For those individuals whose scans were cancelled in the period from April 14-19 they will be rebooked at the soonest possible time.

Sterilization

Stanton’s main sterilizer units remain out of service. Stanton facilities staff continue to troubleshoot the issue. Stanton has adjusted operations with additional shifts for staff responsible for instrument sterilization/reprocessing using back up sterilizer units. These adjustments and coordination with the surgery unit is allowing for regularly scheduled surgeries to go forward. Patients with scheduled surgeries should assume they are going forward unless they are directly contacted with information saying otherwise.

In the period from April 16-23 a total of 13 surgeries were cancelled, these cases will be rebooked at the soonest possible time.

Next Steps

As always, for any patients that require urgent or emergent services that exceed Stanton’s capacity, the NTHSSA maintains the ability to send individuals to Alberta. Public updates on the progress of sterilization services will be provided as progress is made or if the situation changes related to capacity to deliver surgery services.

Media Contact

David Maguire

Communications Coordinator
Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority
TEL: 867-767-9107 ext. 40150
EMAIL: David_Maguire@gov.nt.ca