(READ) Staffing shortages halt services at over a dozen hospitals

The following is an excerpt from Becker’s Hospital Review.

As hospitals struggle with critical staff shortages, several have had to permanently or temporarily halt some services.

Here are 13 recent Becker’s stories of hospitals halting services temporarily or permanently since Nov. 24 because of a lack of staff:

(Note: This list was updated Jan. 11)

1. University Hospitals Lake Health closes ED amid COVID-19 surge
University Hospitals Lake Health is temporarily closing its freestanding emergency department at UH Madison (Ohio) Health Center. Operations at the ED, including lab and X-ray, will be suspended until Jan. 17, at which time the health system will reassess the move based on staffing numbers, according to a news release shared with Becker’s.

2. Crozer Health hospital temporarily closes ED, other services amid staff shortages
Citing staff shortages, Chester, Pa.-based Crozer Health is temporarily suspending emergency department, pathology, lab and medical imaging services at Springfield (Pa.) Hospital starting Jan. 14. The suspension of these services will allow the hospital to temporarily move staff to other areas of the health system that need help, according to a Crozer Health news release shared with Becker’s.

3. Florida hospital shuts down labor and delivery unit amid staffing shortage
Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., temporarily closed its labor and delivery unit amid a staffing shortage, the hospital confirmed to Becker’s Jan. 3. This move does not affect the neonatal intensive care unit or the postpartum unit.

4. University of Utah Hospital suspends some surgeries as 500 staff out sick
With hundreds of staff out sick amid the latest COVID-19 surge, University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City said it will postpone about 20 percent of its surgeries for at least a week, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Jan. 4. “We have to be able to preserve our abilities to do surgeries … where major risk to life or limb are at stake,” Robert Glasgow, MD, the hospital’s chair of surgery, said during a news conference, according to the newspaper.

5. Henry Ford Health System closes 97 beds amid staffing challenges
With hundreds of workers out sick during the latest COVID-19 surge, Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System temporarily closed 97 beds as of Jan. 3, the system said. Fifty-two beds closed at Henry Ford Hospital; 34 at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital; and 11 at Henry Ford Allegiance Health in Jackson, Mich. Henry Ford said these hospitals account for more than 1,550 of the health system’s more than 2,000 beds.

To see the remainder of the 8 hospitals on the list, click here.