The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is reporting a slight increase to emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions lately and hospital officials are preparing for higher numbers.
During a media teleconference on Monday, Vice President of Clinical Programs and Operations at CKHA Caen Suni said there has been a 10 per cent increase in daily hospital admissions on average since August (2-3 extra patients a day) because of RSV, the flu, and COVID-19 and the visits to the ED have gradually climbed.
Suni said the increase is 20 per cent for adults at the Chatham hospital and 40 per cent at the Wallaceburg site. For children, he said the jump is 33 per cent in Chatham and 30 per cent in Wallaceburg. He noted 85 per cent of the paediatric visits are children eight years of age and under.
Suni anticipates those volumes at the two Chatham-Kent hospitals will double in November. That data is still being collected.
"The visits to the emergency department, I wouldn't call it extraordinary. It's slowly ticking up (ED visits) and the admissions have increased. I will say the extra two to three extra admissions per day doesn't sound material, but it certainly is especially when our average admissions are maybe 10 to 12 patients per day. That is a material increase," said Suni.
He also noted the length of stay for the patients admitted is longer because they are sicker.
He is encouraging the public to use their family doctors, the CKHA assessment centre, and walk-in clinics if they can.
Suni emphasized the overall volume at the hospitals has not risen even though the ED is busier.
"The demand is quite great as people are coming in. We're working very hard because right now the paediatric system is under a triple strain. The expectation from our hospital is to hold on to children that might require a higher level of service in other centres. We are preparing our care teams to undertake the greater need the community might have as a result and this includes possibly accepting children from other sites, which we've done on a few occasions recently," Suni said.
He said about a dozen non-urgent surgeries have been postponed over the past two weeks because of a bed shortage.
Suni said shifts are being staffed as best as they can and are often short a nurse or two, depending on the unit. He said staff overtime is definitely up from previous years.
CKHA has 112 staff vacancies as of October 31, 2022, according to Chief Nursing Officer Meredith Whitehead.
Meanwhile, CKHA is moving to passive screening for COVID-19 as of December 1, 2022, meaning CKHA will no longer have staff screeners working at public entrances. Whitehead said anyone entering the hospitals must still wear a mask, be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and have a negative COVID-19 test.