Frontline groups throughout Hamilton Well being Sciences (HHS) proceed to face inordinate pressures, that are affecting companies throughout our hospital and are being notably felt on the grownup acute websites.
Sicker sufferers, with extra advanced well being points, mixed with ongoing workforce and capability pressures, are leading to longer wait instances for care and limiting our capacity to return surgical exercise to pre-COVID ranges (at the moment at 85-90%). It additionally means HHS routinely must function unfunded beds.
Components affecting capability to look after sufferers:
- HHS grownup acute websites proceed to function at extraordinarily excessive volumes in extra of 100% capability. The accepted customary is 85-90%. At present’s occupancy:
- 104% – Hamilton Normal Hospital
- 113% – Juravinski Hospital and Most cancers Centre
- 145% – West Lincoln Memorial Hospital
- The choice stage of care (ALC) price throughout HHS is the very best in seven years, trending at and above 20%. As of at present, there are over 270 ALC sufferers at HHS. House and group companies additionally proceed face well being human useful resource challenges and demand for post-acute beds together with long-term beds exceeds provide.
- Employees and doctor shortages proceed at HHS and throughout the healthcare sector. Surgical procedure and appointment deferrals/postponements have been essential in some applications the place staffing ranges are usually not enough to satisfy affected person volumes.
- Sufferers searching for care within the emergency division are sicker and plenty of require admission to the hospital.
- As a regional centre for specialised care, equivalent to cardiac, stroke and trauma care, HHS cares for a few of the sickest sufferers within the province.
- ICU occupancy has elevated quickly this month. On the Hamilton Normal Hospital particularly, ICU occupancy elevated from 92% on February 1 to 110% on February 8.
Among the close to time period efforts to handle these pressures embrace:
- caring for sufferers in a single day in models usually solely open in the course of the day, and in off-service models/areas such because the Regional Rehabilitation Centre
- enhancing doctor help typically inner drugs and emergency departments
- opening beds and maximizing bodily area
- shifting deliberate surgical exercise the place attainable to identical day dwelling/identical day in a single day instances – emergent and pressing instances stay a precedence
We’re additionally working onerous to recruit workers wanted to fill vacancies in our hospital, and persevering with to work with our inner groups and exterior companions, together with authorities, each day to additional handle the persistent capability challenges in our area.
We’re sincerely grateful to everybody at HHS for doing all the pieces attainable to look after all sufferers.
Know your choices
Name 9-1-1 should you want emergency care.
You possibly can go to your loved ones physician for well being issues that may wait a day or extra; contact Well being Join Ontario to talk with a registered nurse 24/7 by way of telephone or net chat; or go to an pressing care centre for well being issues that aren’t life-threatening however can’t anticipate a health care provider’s appointment. Go to needadoc.ca to study extra.
Different methods to scale back your probabilities of getting sick:
- Put on a masks in crowded indoor areas, together with faculties
- Keep dwelling when sick
- Wash your palms, ceaselessly
- Get all vaccines you’re eligible for, together with COVID-19 and flu
Please see under for a hyperlink to a video/audio clip that can be utilized for broadcast media. It options Sharon Pierson, government vp, Scientific Operations, Chief Working Officer and Chief Nursing Govt talking to capability and operations:
