Hospitals in Southwestern Ontario are aiming to be well prepared for this year's flu season.
Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) CEO Ralph Ganter says it is challenging for emergency departments to keep up around the holiday season, as many staff members go on holidays and operating hours are reduced.
"Anything that the primary care system can do to help us, in terms of hours of operation and so forth, would be great. On the other hand, if there is the inevitable surge that takes place in emergency departments, we're preparing ourselves to have additional capacity," he explains.
Ganter says in past years, it has taken months for hospitals to recover from the holiday season and get back on track. He says the hospital is taking a look at many different options to alleviate stress on emergency departments during flu season.
"There is some work going on across the province right now to see if there's some additional beds that could be placed into the hospitals. Nothing has been approved yet. This is still an exercise where we are trying to understand what's possible, but that is a possibility," explains Ganter.