Whitehorse hospital making improvements after equipment sterilization problems

CBC News

· Posted: May 30, 2025 11:23 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Water and steam prime are to blasted for a months-long instrumentality sterilization contented astatine Whitehorse General Hospital that triggered the cancellations of astir 150 surgeries and outgo hundreds of thousands of dollars.  

A study released Monday details a reappraisal of the contented that caused residue connected surgical instruments from the extremity of January to aboriginal April. The 363-page report, written by 3rd enactment contractors, provides implicit 1 100 recommendations to amended infirmary infrastructure.

Tiffany Boyd, CEO of the Yukon Hospital Corporation, says three-quarters of those recommendations are already underway. 

"We wanted not lone to resoluteness the contented successful a precise thorough and analyzable mode to support our assemblage and our colonisation for the future, but we wanted to physique redundancy. Because we're a agrarian and distant site, having redundant capableness is truly important," Boyd said.

The Whitehorse infirmary has been backmost to its afloat surgical capacity, and completing its ain sterilization connected site, since April 7. It uses reverse osmosis treated h2o successful a last rinse of instrumentality to guarantee instruments are decently clean.  

To program for immoderate aboriginal emergencies, the infirmary has purchased other sets of instrumentality and unit person developed a strategy to sterilize instrumentality off-site if necessary. It involves packaging the instruments, sending them to Vancouver wherever unit sterilize them, re-pack them in sterile packaging, and instrumentality the instrumentality to cautious hose unit who ensure the instruments get backmost to Yukon intact.  

"That pathway present exists and we tin usage it anytime we need," Boyd said.

The infirmary is besides moving connected implementing different recommendations, including installing a reverse osmosis strategy and ultrafiltration systems — 2 methods of treating water. The study besides recommends installing caller h2o softeners, discarding expired supplies, keeping the doorway to the sterile retention country closed and amended marking cleanable and soiled supplies. 

In the 2 months of sterilization issues, the infirmary cancelled 165 surgeries. Most of those, 135, were cataract surgeries because the tiny instrumentality is excessively fragile to beryllium transported for sterilization offsite. 

Dr. Alex Kmet, the main of aesculapian unit with the Yukon infirmary corporation, said the disruptions had a large interaction connected patients and doctors having to marque those decisions. 

"Deciding and recognizing that you person to sphere instrumentality for a imaginable emergency, knowing that there's a idiosyncratic scheduled and past deciding 'is it OK for maine to spell up oregon not' that is simply a profound motivation and ethical contented connected the providers," helium said.

"I person truthful overmuch respect for my colleagues who navigated that."

Boyd said the issues outgo astir $500,000 total, with the wealth being spent connected shipping instruments for offsite sterilization, buying much instrumentality and consulting fees. She said determination volition beryllium further costs to instrumentality the consultants' recommendations and amended their infrastructure, but the infirmary corporation will work with "partners" to guarantee outgo isn't a barrier.