Kingston General Hospital 'bursting at the seams' with COVID-19 and respiratory illness patients
The Kingston General Hospital says a surge of emergency department inpatients, including a day that had a near record 580 admissions, has the hospital struggling to keep up as the respiratory virus season peaks across the province.
A thread of social media posts by the Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), which operates the general hospital, said they are 'bursting at the seams' with the increase in ER admissions and are beginning to open 'non-traditional spaces' to deal with the influx.
"We continue to see patients with COVID-19 as infection rates hold steady across our region. We’re averaging about 15-20 COVID inpatients per-day, some in the ICU. Meanwhile, we’ve now hit peak RSV season and flu cases are beginning to rise in the area," KHSC said on X.
"Meanwhile, our Emergency Department (ED) is also seeing high volumes of patients. Despite our best efforts, some patients are seeing longer wait times in the ED for less urgent issues. We know it is frustrating, but we have to treat the sickest people first."
An emailed statement by KHSC says wait times for an initial assessment remain around average at 3.1 hours, but recognize that patients with less urgent conditions and needs are experiencing longer wait times.
Jason Hann, the vice president of patient care and the chief nurse for KHSC told CTV Morning Live on Wednesday that they are putting 'surge plans' in place.
"We're anticipating for about a 120 per cent occupancy rate across the Kingston Health Science Centre and that's for both our pediatric and our adult population," Hann said.
A large gym at the General Hospital is being prepared as an impatient unit in case the hospital would need to transfer people from the emergency department during the holidays.
The centre said this is occurring amid a worldwide shortage of healthcare workers and the hospital is often short-staffed. They are working to recruit more staff and are making progress, but qualified individuals are "hard to find."
"A number of the patients we are admitting each day are children. We are adjusting many of our inpatient areas to make more room for the rising numbers of pediatric patients who are coming to us for help – both from our region, and from other areas in the province," KHSC's statement on X said.
The centre is reminding people in the community to get vaccinated, wear a mask and stay home if you don't feel well.
"We all hate to miss those special holiday events when we’re under the weather, but staying home in your PJ’s isn’t nearly as bad as sharing a virus with a vulnerable family member or friend," the centre said.
Meanwhile, health officials across the province are warning that an increase in COVID-19 and respiratory infections are causing higher than average wait times across the country.
The Monfort Hospital in the east-end of Ottawa reported wait times of up to 20 hours for a full assessment by a physician (it does not state the wait for an initial assessment).
The Ottawa Hospital and the Queensway-Carleton Hospital also said they are experiencing higher than average patient volumes.
The Kingston General Hospital does not list current wait times online. The latest statistics by Health Quality Ontario, which monitored wait times from across the province in October, found that patients waited an average of 3.1 hours to get an initial assessment by a physician.
Patients are triaged upon arrival and then given an initial visit with a doctor before receiving a full assessment.
The provincial average wait time for an initial assessment was 2.1 hours in October.
With files from CTV Morning Live Ottawa
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Slovakia's prime minister injured in shooting
Media reports say Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was injured in a shooting and taken to hospital.
Wildfire smoke forecast: Poor air quality in Western Canada, haze in Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires continue to impact air quality across Western Canada, with conditions expected to worsen on Wednesday before improving.
'Not a scarient': New COVID-19 subvariant dominant in Canada
A new COVID-19 subvariant is dominant in Canada, representing just over 30 per cent of cases in the country, but infectious disease experts say there’s no sign it’ll evolve into a summer 'scarient.'
DEVELOPING Massive manhunt in France for prison-break gang that gunned down officers
A massive manhunt was underway in France on Wednesday for an armed gang that killed two prison officers and seriously injured three others to spring an inmate they were escorting.
Growing wildfires across Western Canada are forcing thousands from their homes
Thousands of people in Western Canada remain displaced from their homes as wildfires threaten their communities, triggering evacuation orders and alerts.
Sun shoots out biggest solar flare in almost 2 decades, but Earth should be out of the way this time
The sun produced its biggest flare in nearly two decades Tuesday, just days after severe solar storms pummelled Earth and created dazzling northern lights in unaccustomed places.
Victim loses $2M in online romance scam
A Malahide Township resident is out more than $2 million following a romance scam.
Stormy Daniels' husband says they'll likely leave country if Trump is acquitted
The husband of adult film actress Stormy Daniels said on Tuesday that there’s a 'good chance' the couple will leave the country if former U.S. president Donald Trump is acquitted in his Manhattan criminal trial.
An imbalance of two healthy fats affects your early death risk, study finds
Eating enough healthy fats is great for brain and heart health, but new research has possibly provided even more evidence for adding them, particularly omega-3s, to your diet.