By CHAT News Today

Water quality returns to normal at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital

Jun 7, 2017 | 10:55 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has resumed all scheduled and elective surgeries after solving water-quality issues at the hospital.

Since May 9, 2015 elective surgeries were postponed after staff discovered the issue in the water system affecting medical device reprocessing. As Alberta Health services investigated, more problems were discovered, including particles in the water, discoloured water, residue on equipment and fluctuating mineral levels.

Particles in the water system were addressed with new water filters. AHS determined the particles did not enter the hospital from the city’s water main, but were present inside the hospital’s water lines.

“Right now, we’re assuming that they’re some sort of mineral deposit,” said Katherine Chubbs, Chief Zone Officer with the AHS South Zone. “Our filters that we’ve put in, I think that remains key to solving the issue that we were dealing with.

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“Since we put the filters in, we’ve been in a continuous improvement mode. That was highly successful, and out of all the things we did, I think that was the number-one contributor to getting us back to normal.”

The hospital will spend the next six weeks flushing the water system in the ambulatory wing on each floor. AHS says there will be no impact to patient care while the flushing is ongoing.

Out of the postponed surgeries, 198 have been rescheduled, and 53 of those surgeries have been completed. AHS is working to reschedule the remaining seven surgeries.