Sudbury hospital prepares to deal with expected increase in COVID patients

In order to prepare for an increase in COVID-19 admissions, Greater Sudbury's hospital is making some temporary changes.

The measures to be implemented at Health Sciences North (HSN) are meant to address over-occupancy levels, while sustaining critical and acute care services.

COVID-19 case counts in the region have hit historic levels. The health units in Sudbury-Manitoulin, Algoma and Timiskaming all have high numbers of active cases of the virus. All three are considered hotspots in Ontario.

"Obviously this leads to an increase in hospitalizations," said Dominic Giroux, president and CEO of HSN. 

This week there was a peak of 570 patients in the hospital, which Giroux said was only built for 441 patients. As of Friday there are 17 COVID-19 patients admitted. 

Giroux also said there are 19 past-positive patients. Those are patients who had COVID-19, but are no longer considered active cases. The virus caused their pre-existing health conditions to worsen so they are again needing to seek care.

Giroux said that COVID-19 patients who are in the hospital are sicker.

"Therefore their length of stay is longer and that's creating an additional burden on the hospital," he said

Preparation for surge over holidays

"We are in the process of implementing our surge plans in the coming days to create capacity," Giroux said.

As of Friday, referrals from partner hospitals will be redirected to other hospitals in the region. While starting on Monday HSN will be reassessing outpatient activities. Giroux said they will make a decision in the coming days on surgical volumes. 

"HSN programs are implementing their surge plans and reviewing all elective procedures and outpatient activity to allow for any potential human resources to be redeployed to core acute and critical care program functions," said Dr. John Fenton, chief of staff at HSN.

Appointments may need to be rescheduled.

"Physicians will also review cases of patients waiting in hospital for testing, imaging or surgery. They may discharge patients who can safely wait in the community to return as outpatients or as called by the HSN surgical program team," Fenton added.

The temporary measures will continue to be reviewed and monitored by the medical and administrative teams at HSN. The hospital will contact patients who may be impacted.

Hospital teams tired

Despite these temporary changes, Giroux said he is still worried about what the holidays will bring.

"The majority of COVID patients at HSN are not vaccinated, and it's very frustrating to see that," he said.

"Our teams are tired. They want this to end, as does the community. And it's really important for everyone to follow the instructions from public health."