The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is generally pleased and optimistic with the province's plan to stabilize the healthcare system and ease the burden on workers, but is waiting for more details before fully endorsing it.
CKHA said the current situation is not sustainable and it will be assessing the plan once they have more details to determine how it will help improve access to care for the community and recruit and retain staff and physicians.
The Chatham-Kent hospital leadership also said it looks forward to working with partners and provincial counterparts as they strive to improve care for patients, their families, and the community.
Officials with the hospital said the current challenges are patients taking up beds at the hospital who should be at a long term care facility and sicker patients showing up at the emergency department.
"We are pleased with the provincial government’s focus on addressing the issues that are affecting our health care system. Similar to other hospitals, we continue to experience health human resource challenges and capacity issues at CKHA including a number of patients who are waiting for an alternate level of care and patients presenting with higher levels of acuity in our Emergency Department," CKHA officials wrote in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
CKHA previously reported it is making progress hiring new nurses, but still has staff vacancies, citing the vacancy rate is at 8 per cent or about 100 jobs.
CKHA officials also said the surgical program is ahead of schedule and has been exceeding targets since March.
On Thursday morning, the province announced plans to add up to 6,000 more health care workers on top of the 13,000 staff already announced in the first phase of the plan in March. The plan includes adding nurses and personal support workers to get Ontario’s healthcare system moving faster to lower wait times in emergency departments, surgical procedures, and provide more healthcare options in communities.
The plan also gives paramedics more flexibility to provide better, more appropriate care and divert patients from emergency departments (ED), if they don't need to be there.
General Manager of Chatham-Kent EMS Donald MacLellan said his paramedics have done a good job caring for the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and are handling the demands well.
MacLellan said caring for patients at home or navigating them through the healthcare system to appropriate care is an excellent example of how unique solutions are working well to keep patients from overburdening the emergency departments in Chatham and Wallaceburg.
"The ultimate goal is improving their health and well-being and quality of life, but also trying to divert ED visits and hospital admissions at the same time," said MacLellan.
MacLellan said every sector of the healthcare system is stretched to the limit, but compared to other areas of the province, CK paramedics have been very fortunate because staffing levels are good, although he's always looking to recruit.
Ontario's Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the province is also implementing several initiatives to help avoid unnecessary hospitalizations and improve the process for ambulance offloading.