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A hospital in southwestern Ontario says it has been forced to cancel several surgeries this week to create capacity as it deals with ongoing staff and bed shortages. 

A spokesperson for Cambridge Memorial Hospital says eight surgeries have been cancelled due to high patient volumes in the hospital's emergency department, which have been compounded by staff shortages and staff vacancies.

The hospital also warned earlier this week that emergency wait times were "much higher than normal" due to high patient volumes and ongoing staff shortages. 

It said patients would be seen in priority order if they required emergency care, while advising those who were able to seek alternate health-care options.

The latest data from Ontario Health shows that the average wait time for a patient to receive a first assessment by a doctor in an emergency room in the province was 2.1 hours in the month of June.

The average length of stay in an emergency room for all patients admitted to a hospital was 19.1 hours.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2022. 

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.  

The Canadian Press