Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic Health System will delay the transition of inpatient surgeries from its Albert Lea, Minn., hospital to its Austin, Minn., campus due to staff shortages, according to the Austin Daily Herald.
Mayo announced last June it would transition ICU, maternity and inpatient services from Albert Lea to Austin, and behavioral health services from Austin to Albert Lea. ICU services transitioned in October, and the inpatient surgery transition was scheduled for beginning of this year. However, Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said it will need to be delayed while the hospital addresses staffing shortages.
"We have said from the beginning that transition timelines may be influenced by many factors, such as availability of trained staff, space constraints and construction schedules," Ms. Plumbo said, according to the Austin Daily Herald. "Our inpatient surgical services planning team has taken great care to ensure all workflows are in place … It's important to note these surgical positions could take several months to recruit and train due to staffing shortages in this area. However, we're very hopeful these positions will be filled and trained within the first and second quarter of 2018."
Behavioral health services are expected to move to Albert Lea in the middle of this year while maternity services are expected to transition to Austin in 2019 or 2020.