HCA Florida North Florida Hospital this week broke its lengthy silence regarding the ongoing disruption of surgical operations due to unsterilized instruments.  

“This week, we have resumed 75% of our elective surgical cases – with a goal of 100% percent as soon as possible,” CEO Eric Lawson wrote in a “Dear Colleagues” letter distributed Tuesday.  

Lawson cited “significant enhancements” to infrastructure and surgical processes.  

“This includes the installation of additional pre-surgical processing units, the procurement of new instruments, and the expansion of our Surgical Services staff,” Lawson wrote. “To further bolster our surgical instrument inventory, we have deployed a temporary mobile processing center to ensure we meet the demand for surgical procedures until we resume full operating capacity.” 

Lawson did not give a timetable for the full resumption of surgeries. 

Lawson’s announcement came a day after Mainstreet Daily News reported that, before North Florida’s surgical shutdown occurred on Jan. 17, surgeons had been pushing the hospital to fix systemic issues in the sterile processing department (SPD) for at least a year. Those issues included rusted instruments, low staffing and a lack of technician training. 

On Wednesday, North Florida released a shorter statement to local media outlets reiterating Lawson’s message. Spokesperson Lauren Lettelier declined to say how many of North Florida’s 15 operating rooms were in service.  

She said surgeons “are being scheduled by physicians according to the needs of their patients.” 

Patients are reporting various experiences, including voluntary cancellations and one who said the hospital canceled the patient’s scheduled surgery last week. Others have traveled to Ocala, Lake City and other area hospitals for surgeries.  

A surgeon’s representative said Wednesday that the hospital was still restricting surgeons to no more than two surgeries per day at North Florida, when certain surgeons would perform as many as seven surgeries there each day. The representative spoke on condition of anonymity because the hospital has warned employees they could be fired for speaking with reporters.  

State and federal regulators are investigating the circumstances surrounding North Florida Hospital’s surgical shutdown. Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration surveyors were at the hospital on Feb. 6, and a subsequent report is expected any day. 

Editor’s note: This reporting is part of a joint investigation between Mainstreet Daily News and Fresh Take Florida, a news service operated by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.