Some hospitals across the province are scrambling to keep their emergency doors open due to a lack of staff.
Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) is facing similar challenges, warns CEO Carmine Stumpo.
“Soldiers' is doing everything we can to keep all emergency services and essential services accessible to our community and region,” Stumpo told OrilliaMatters, noting that there are no current plans to close emergency services.
The staffing situation at OSMH is being monitored on a day-to-day basis. Stumpo says.
“Some days we start off better than others,” he said. “We have to factor in sick calls.”
The hospital must call in about 100 to 120 non-scheduled staff members each day to cover absences and demand, Stumpo explained.
“We have vacancies in most areas that we are actively recruiting for,” he said. “We also see about 25 to 30 people a day not able to come into work and about half of that is COVID related.”
Often times, the hospital is left working with less staff than what is considered to be ideal.
“In those circumstances, we focus on priority services and emergent and urgent care,” Stumpo said. “Some of the less urgent or scheduled activities may need to wait a little bit longer.”
Stumpo says it’s certainly "not anything close to business as usual" at the hospital right now and says growth and an influx of visitors during the summer exacerbate the problem.
“Even with our baseline staffing, we can’t keep pace with the numbers of people we are seeing coming through our emergency department,” he said.
Over 30 percent of people using the emergency department at OSMH come from out of the region Stumpo says.
“That growth is compounding the issues,” he said. “It’s making us internally stretched pretty thin.”
Stumpo says all health sectors in the province are in the same boat when it comes to combating staffing issues.
Those issues are what caused a hospital in Clinton, Ont., to temporarily close its emergency department Saturday through Monday. In addition, a Kingston, Ont., hospital reduced its urgent care centre hours while a hospital in Perth closed its emergency room for several days as they dealt with an outbreak of COVID-19.
“There are many facets to the problem,” Stumpo said. “It’s not one single thing that has generated where we are today.”
However, he said he wants the community to know that the hospital's leadership is working with community partners to deal with the issue.
“We really want to acknowledge our community for their understanding and patience,” he said. “Everyone is doing absolutely everything we can to make sure all the essential care is being delivered and done right.”
Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop says the Ontario government has stepped up to help the health-care system. Since March 2020, she noted, the government launched emergency programs that "have already added over 10,000 healthcare professionals" in various capacities.
"We are proud to have supported six medical schools across Ontario, which includes adding 160 undergraduate seats and 295 postgraduate positions over the next five years, the largest expansion of undergraduate and postgraduate education in over 10 years," Dunlop said in a written statement to OrilliaMatters.
"In addition, we have created a pathway for stand-alone nursing degree programs to be offered by colleges across the province."
Dunlop notes that in Simcoe North, students can receive a nursing degree at Georgian College and help address the local healthcare needs.
Dunlop said she looks forward to continuing her work as both the MPP for Simcoe North and Minister of Colleges and Universities to "ensure the community continues to offer a high-calibre education to students and address labour and community needs today and in the future."
