Toronto General Hospital said in an email Tuesday that its Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit are at “total bed capacity,” or limited manpower, to keep them all safely open. intensive care beds. and in operation. “Due to a number of factors, including issues caused by the ongoing pandemic, we are experiencing staffing shortages that require this action,” Jillian Howard, a spokeswoman for the University Health Network, which includes Toronto General Hospital, said in an email. Howard said that when the hospital is on intensive care bed alert, it triages patients who need specialized work in the intensive care unit and works collaboratively to ensure patients receive the appropriate care they need. The three intensive care units treat “different populations of patients” who need intensive care, Howard said. The alarm comes after about 25 hospitals in Ontario were forced to curtail parts of their facilities over the weekend due to staff shortages, according to the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA). ONA President Kathryn Hoy said Monday that over the weekend, hospitals had to close units, reduce the number of beds or redirect patients to other locations. He described the situation as a “catastrophe” and warned that staff shortages seen in hospitals across the province over the weekend would worsen. “This passage has to stop now. It really is happening. And nurses are leaving every day,” Hoy said. “And if this continues and there’s no sunshine or hope from the government, it’s going to get worse.” Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the provincial government is looking at how to get more internationally trained nurses to work in the province in order to ease staffing shortages. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Dennett) The alarm also comes amid a growing chorus of opposition MPs calling on Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones to provide tangible solutions to what they say is a crisis facing the province’s health care system.
Province is working to solve the problem, says the minister
Jones told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that the provincial government is looking at how to get more internationally trained nurses to work in the province in order to ease staffing shortages. Jones said her role in recent weeks has been to meet with organizations and people in the industry who have solutions and listen to their feedback. The health minister said the project includes what the government has already done over the past four years, which includes increasing the number of workers in the system – she says more than 10,000 have been added since the start of the pandemic. He said the government would introduce “additional measures” to boost capacity, and specifically cited a backlog of internationally trained health workers waiting for certifications. CBC Toronto had repeatedly contacted Jones for an interview about staffing shortages in Ontario hospitals. The requests were all denied. Another drone aerial view of Toronto General Hospital taken on December 15, 2020. (Sue Reid/CBC) NDP health critic France Gélinas said in a press release Tuesday that Jones is not listening to patients and frontline health workers. “If Jones doesn’t find this mess unacceptable, how badly is she willing to let our health care system deteriorate?” Gelinas asked. “Seriously ill patients are being transported. Long waits and medications in the hallway are out of control. And some people will rush to the ER only to find the doors locked.” The NDP, health care unions and frontline health workers have called on the government to repeal the legislation, known as Bill 124, which caps annual salary increases for nurses. The Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, enacted in 2019, caps salary increases for provincial employees, including nurses, at one per cent per year, which is below the rate of inflation.
