The Fraser Health Authority announced this week its plan to close Mission General Hospital’s operating room Feb. 1, but there will be little affect on surgery wait times at Ridge Meadows Hospital.

According to Fraser Health, the move to close the OR at Mission Memorial will save $302,000 annually, and ensure the hospital’s emergency room stays open 24 hours a day.

More than 500 “low-acuity” or non-emergency surgeries, such as knee operations, were performed at Mission Memorial last year, by far the fewest of any hospital in the Fraser Health Region. Delta Hospital the next lowest with about 3,700 surgeries.

Those surgeries will now be performed at Ridge Meadows Hospital, as well as Abbotsford Regional, but Fraser Health is not expecting increases to surgery wait-lists as a result of the move.

“Mission sees about 13 cases per week,” said Fraser Health spokesperson Joan Marshall. “With such a small number of surgeries, we don’t anticipate any delays.”

Marshall said many of the doctors who perform surgeries at Mission Memorial are from Ridge Meadows Hospital.

Fraser Health first announced it was considering cutting the emergency department at Mission Memorial down to 15 hours a day, closing each night at 11 p.m. and routing ER calls to Abbotsford or Ridge Meadows.

Fraser Health back-pedalled when after plan was met with stiff opposition from members of the community and hospital staff.

NDP health critic Adrian Dix called the announcement “an incremental process of dismantling” the hospital.

The public has fought off the ER closure, but it’s only a temporary victory at the cost of another service, he added.

There were only 500 surgeries done in Mission last year because of previous cuts, he pointed out. This hospital has gone from acute to subacute and has had closures of beds, closure of the intensive care unit, the maternity ward and now the OR.

“This is another significant cut,” said Dix. “The impact on the community will be significant.”

– with files from Carol Aun