Endoscopy services are back up and running at the new Stanton Territorial Hospital.
Last month, the territory’s health authority said it couldn’t open the new facility’s endoscopy unit because there weren’t enough trained staff.
On Thursday, the health authority said it now the trained Stanton nurses and locum nurses needed to resume the service.
Endoscopies – in which patients’ digestive tracts are examined – had been unavailable, the authority said in June, because of “movement of staff from the endoscopy program to other opportunities within the health and social services system.”
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Patients were being referred to Inuvik or Edmonton while the service was unavailable in Yellowknife.
Starting now, endoscopies will be phased back in and patients will be notified when appointments become available. Patients already referred to Inuvik or Edmonton will keep those appointments.
As was previously the case, the authority said, the hospital will triage patients needing endoscopies to determine if their needs can be supported in the territory or if they will require an appointment in Alberta.
The health authority expects the level of service to “ramp up over time” as more staff are trained to perform endoscopies.
