The number of children transported between Ontario’s Overburdened Hospitals shot to new heights in November when a triple threat of respiratory viruses piled pressure on the province’s health care system.
new data from Orangewhich facilitates a portion of patient transfers in Ontario, shows that the number of children transported between hospitals for respiratory illnesses in November was the highest level since 2018, a result of what the Minister of Health called for hospitals working together to “balance the load”.
“There are times when a particular part of the province will have a higher incident rate,” Minister Sylvia Jones said on Thursday. “That ability to move patients when necessary to other facilities that are not seeing that increase on that particular day is a really important way for us to balance the load in Ontario as we experience these increases.”
However, persistent pressure being placed on emergency departments across Ontario could force the province to start transferring patients south of the border, and worst-case scenario planning is already underway.
Flu surges on the heels of RSV, COVID 19 to overwhelm children’s hospitals in Canada
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The data, provided to Global News by Ornge, shows that the upward trend began in July, when approximately 50 pediatric patients with respiratory illnesses had to be transferred between provincial hospitals.
By November, Ornge found itself transferring almost 140 pediatric patients with respiratory illnesses to other hospitals in an attempt to find a suitable open bed for their care.
The volume increase is 150 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
“We’ve seen this with older adults, but not with pediatrics,” said Dr. Michael Lewell, Ornge’s associate medical officer. “This is the first time we’ve seen such a significant volume with pediatrics.”
A chart from Ornge shows a sharp increase in pediatric transfers during November.
Orange
The increase in volumes facing Ornge represents a partial view of overall patient transfers in Ontario. Patients can also be transported by the hospital’s pediatric teams and local ambulance services which, Dr Lewell said, have seen a 50 per cent increase during the current surge.
“Certain [hospitals] it would lack the capacity, just the sheer number of beds, and so we move patients to existing beds where there is capacity,” said Dr. Lewell. “It is much easier to transport a patient to an existing bed than it is to try, for example, to create new beds in an existing facility.”
As of Thursday, the province had just 11 available pediatric ICU beds in the entire province, while, Dr. Lewell said, more than 100 pediatric patients over the age of 14 were being cared for in adult ICU wards.
While patients, in some cases, are transferred within cities, other patients travel greater distances to find an available bed.
“For example, we’ll see a patient who would normally go to Hamilton or Toronto now moving to Kingston,” said Dr. Lewell. “We are going to move some patients from the north to the south.”
Still, the health system is now preparing for the worst case scenario, a complete depletion of available pediatric beds.
Ornge is now looking to increase flight certificates in order to fly to the United States, if necessary, as the province potentially relies on existing relationships with hospitals in border states to help manage cargo.
“Hospitals that are on our borders, like in upper New York state as well as eastern Michigan, would be a natural fit,” Dr. Lewell said, noting that the province has not yet entered into no formal agreement. agreement for any transfer to the US
The rising number of respiratory cases in children has threatened to overwhelm children’s hospitals. In the second week of November, Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital announced that it would reduce surgeries.
The president, Dr. Ronald Cohn, said the hospital had “no choice” but to prioritize “urgent, emergency and time-sensitive surgeries” from November 14 to preserve intensive care beds for the influx of patients. patients.
The hospital’s medical director, Dr. Lennox Huang, told Global News at the time that the province is dealing with a “pediatric crisis,” one it has not experienced in its 18-year medical career.
“It is filling up every ward in the hospital,” Dr. Huang said. “Our ICU is practically at maximum capacity. We are seeing this in our emergency department and also on our general pediatric floors.”
The last week of November also saw the most pediatric hospitalizations in a single week in a decade, said Dr. Jesse Papenburg, who works at Children’s Hospital Montreal.
In a typical flu season, about 1,000 children are admitted to the hospital. Due to pandemic public health measures, he said last season he saw only 400 and there were none the season before.
As of the end of November, more than 700 children had been hospitalized with the H3N2 strain of flu, which usually affects older adults. But the season could continue until March or April, Papenburg said of the unexpected epidemic.
In December, the Red Cross was called in to help Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), which Prime Minister Doug Ford applauded as the hospital that “thinks outside the box”.
Despite the overwhelming situation, the provincial Health Minister urged parents not to think twice about going to Ontario’s emergency departments.
“As a caregiver, as a parent, if you feel you need to take your child to an emergency…absolutely do it,” Jones said Thursday.
— with archives from The Canadian Press
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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