Sudbury's Health Sciences North lets patients have more visitors

Sudbury's Health Sciences North is allowing more bedside visitors for patients because its COVID-19 risk level has dropped from high to moderate.

Most patients in the hospital will be allowed up to two bedside visitors, and an unlimited number of visitors overall, during their stay in the hospital.

Patients in the emergency department are still limited to one bedside visitor due to space limitations, and people treated for COVID-19 also have the same limits, said hospital spokesperson Jason Turnbull, in an email to CBC News.

The changes came into effect on Monday, after the hospital had been at the moderate risk level for two weeks.

On July 5 the hospital had 20 patients admitted for COVID-19, with one in the intensive care unit. There were also 30 past-positive patients in hospital, who had COVID-19 but are no longer positive. 

Surgical waitlist a bit shorter

The lower risk level has also allowed the hospital to perform more surgeries and cut down on its waitlist.

On May 26 there were 5,370 patients on the hospital's surgical waitlist, but that was down to 5,077 people as of Monday.

"From 2011 to 2019, our surgical waitlist ranged between 2,891 and 3,979, at an average of 3,411. Like other hospitals, HSN's surgical waitlist grew during the pandemic," Turnbull said in the email.

Turnbull said 59 per cent of surgeries at the hospital are done within provincial target wait times. Across Ontario, only 48 per cent of surgeries are performed within the target wait times.