In an email to CP24 on Tuesday, a UHN spokesperson confirmed that Toronto General Hospital is on a “critical care bed alert” affecting the medical-surgical, coronary and cardiovascular intensive care units.
“This means that our 3 intensive care units — CVICU, CICU and MSICU — are at full bed capacity and/or have limited manpower to safely keep all intensive care beds open and operating,” the spokeswoman said UHN, Rosa Kim. .
“Due to a number of factors, including issues caused by the ongoing pandemic, we are experiencing staff shortages that require this action.”
While on alert, Kim said, the hospital is actively triaging patients who need specialized care in the ICU and working with Criticall — a ministry-funded organization that helps ensure patients in the province can access urgent and emergency care. care – to ensure that patients will the most appropriate care’.
An Aug. 1 report from Critical Care Services Ontario obtained by CP24 shows intensive care beds at Toronto General were at 59 percent occupancy as of Monday. While the report said there were 50 intensive care beds physically available, the hospital’s ability to use those beds for treatment is limited by the availability of nurses and doctors to care for those patients.
Just three of the 73 intensive care beds occupied at the hospital on Monday were being used for patients with critical illness related to COVID-19, the report showed, indicating that a sudden surge in COVID-19 infections could easily worsen the already precarious situation.
The intensive care bed alert at one of Toronto’s busiest hospitals comes as Ontario’s health care system struggles to keep up with demand.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones told CP24 on Tuesday that she is working with stakeholders in the health care system to try to solve staff shortages and other problems that hinder care.
But emergency and critical care workers in the province say the situation is becoming desperate.
Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency room doctor who works at three GTA hospitals, told CP24 the strain on the system is clear to anyone seeking treatment.
“The most important answer is not what I say, it’s what patients and families feel,” Venugopal said. When patients wait hours with a major dislocated joint for reduction, when patients wait hours in a chair for a fracture to be set, when elderly people wait three to four days in a dressing room to be admitted to the hospital, when My patient this moment is on day four of his stay in a trauma clinic — when these are the real situations in this province today, what do you think Ontarians would say to the minister if they were asked “Do you feel? well cared for?’
The President of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Claudette Holloway, called the situation “terrible and dangerous” in another interview with CP24 on Tuesday.
“I haven’t seen it that bad, but we know that over the years, there has been a shortage of nurses in Ontario, particularly registered nurses. Our quota was less than other provinces,” Holloway said. “So this is definitely a dire and dangerous situation that needs drastic responses from our politicians.”
She said she and other health care workers are “ready to sit at the table” to discuss long-term recruitment and retention strategies for the province.
title: “Toronto General Hospital Is On Intensive Care Bed Alert Amid Staff Shortages "
ShowToc: true
date: “2022-12-24”
author: “Pamela Nickel”
In an email to CP24 on Tuesday, a UHN spokesperson confirmed that Toronto General Hospital is on a “critical care bed alert” affecting the medical-surgical, coronary and cardiovascular intensive care units.
“This means that our 3 intensive care units — CVICU, CICU and MSICU — are at full bed capacity and/or have limited manpower to safely keep all intensive care beds open and operating,” the spokeswoman said UHN, Rosa Kim. .
“Due to a number of factors, including issues caused by the ongoing pandemic, we are experiencing staff shortages that require this action.”
While on alert, Kim said, the hospital is actively triaging patients who need specialized care in the ICU and working with Criticall — a ministry-funded organization that helps ensure patients in the province can access urgent and emergency care. care – to ensure that patients will the most appropriate care’.
An Aug. 1 report from Critical Care Services Ontario obtained by CP24 shows intensive care beds at Toronto General were at 59 percent occupancy as of Monday. While the report said there were 50 intensive care beds physically available, the hospital’s ability to use those beds for treatment is limited by the availability of nurses and doctors to care for those patients.
Just three of the 73 intensive care beds occupied at the hospital on Monday were being used for patients with critical illness related to COVID-19, the report showed, indicating that a sudden surge in COVID-19 infections could easily worsen the already precarious situation.
The intensive care bed alert at one of Toronto’s busiest hospitals comes as Ontario’s health care system struggles to keep up with demand.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones told CP24 on Tuesday that she is working with stakeholders in the health care system to try to solve staff shortages and other problems that hinder care.
But emergency and critical care workers in the province say the situation is becoming desperate.
Dr. Raghu Venugopal, an emergency room doctor who works at three GTA hospitals, told CP24 the strain on the system is clear to anyone seeking treatment.
“The most important answer is not what I say, it’s what patients and families feel,” Venugopal said. When patients wait hours with a major dislocated joint for reduction, when patients wait hours in a chair for a fracture to be set, when elderly people wait three to four days in a dressing room to be admitted to the hospital, when My patient this moment is on day four of his stay in a trauma clinic — when these are the real situations in this province today, what do you think Ontarians would say to the minister if they were asked “Do you feel? well cared for?’
The President of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Claudette Holloway, called the situation “terrible and dangerous” in another interview with CP24 on Tuesday.
“I haven’t seen it that bad, but we know that over the years, there has been a shortage of nurses in Ontario, particularly registered nurses. Our quota was less than other provinces,” Holloway said. “So this is definitely a dire and dangerous situation that needs drastic responses from our politicians.”
She said she and other health care workers are “ready to sit at the table” to discuss long-term recruitment and retention strategies for the province.