BayCare Resumes all Non-Urgent Surgeries in Pinellas, Polk and Pasco Counties

Increased Staffing, Decline in COVID-19 Patients Make Change Possible

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Jul 29, 2020, 17:15 ET

CLEARWATER, Fla., July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BayCare Health System announced Wednesday that starting on Monday, Aug. 3, it will resume all non-urgent surgeries and procedures at its acute care hospitals in Pinellas, Polk and Pasco counties.

The change comes roughly four weeks after BayCare voluntarily curtailed inpatient, non-urgent surgeries to provide more hospital bed capacity in the community for COVID-19 patients. BayCare is now able to resume those services after working to increase its staffing resources and seeing a downward trend in COVID-related hospital stays in recent weeks.

The change impacts the following hospitals: St. Anthony's, Morton Plant, Mease Countryside, Mease Dunedin, Morton Plant North Bay, Winter Haven, Winter Haven Women's and Bartow Regional Medical Center.

BayCare's hospitals in Hillsborough County will continue to pause non-urgent, inpatient surgeries and procedures. But BayCare hopes to resume all surgeries in those facilities soon.

"We made a commitment, when we paused these surgeries, to resume them as soon as we felt we could do so safely for all involved," said Glenn Waters, chief operating officer for BayCare. "We've worked hard the last several weeks to expand our capacity by increasing our hiring and other staffing resources. Now, with COVID-19 hospitalizations also decreasing, we welcome all patients."

BayCare began voluntarily pausing some non-urgent surgeries at its acute care hospitals starting July 6 to ensure the community had adequate hospital beds to address the second peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospitals continued surgeries for all life-threatening situations. The hospitals also continued non-urgent surgeries that did not require overnight recovery in the hospital.

BayCare's Ambulatory Surgery Centers, which specialize in outpatient surgery, have continued to operate.

About BayCare Health System

BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 15 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information, visit www.BayCare.org.

SOURCE BayCare Health System