Health care partners combining efforts to tackle increased hospital volumes

Windsor Regional Hospital Ouellette Campus emergency department sign seen on Oct. 23, 2024. (Travis Fortnum/CTV News Windsor)

Windsor-Essex health care partners are working together in anticipation of increased hospital volumes heading into the winter.

Erie Shores HealthCare (ESHC), Essex-Windsor EMS (EMS), Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) and Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) are collaborating on capacity and resource management and lett should expect in the season ahead.

On an annual basis, hospital officials say they anticipate high emergency department visits and admission volumes – often times running over 100 per cent capacity – when viruses spread through the community in the winter.

This year, however, officials say they are already operating at surge-season levels, running at 120 per cent capacity even before winter begins. As a result, they expect the strain to be even greater in the coming months.

To manage this increased demand, officials say they continue to implement methods to address patient overflow where required, including opening additional beds and redeploying resources where needed to help reduce the burden on patients and the staff who care for them.

High volumes can lead to longer than expected wait times for both emergency services as well as admissions to hospital, including patients who have completed their acute care stay at WRH or ESHC and require transfer to limited complex medical/rehabilitation beds at HDGH or to a local long-term care facility.

These patients are often referred to as “ALC,” or “Alternate Level of Care” to describe individuals who remain in a hospital bed waiting for the next stage of their health care journey.

How the public can help reduce wait times

Hospital officials say the public has an important role to play in helping us reduce hospital and ambulance wait times. For non-emergency situations, the public can phone 811, go to a walk-in clinic or make an appointment with their family doctor.

Essex-Windsor EMS works closely with the Central Ambulance Communications Centre, local hospitals and other responders to ensure ambulances are available when emergencies happen. When ambulances are tied up with non-emergency calls and hospitals are at capacity, this becomes more challenging, leading to the “Code Blacks”.

Essex-Windsor EMS is encouraging residents to Make The Right Call by following the advice of health-care professionals and taking appropriate actions when they experience health-care crises.

Patients and families can also access resources through WRH and ESHC regarding alternatives to an Emergency Room visit when the patient issue is not an emergency.

Visit the Windsor Essex Ontario Health Team Guide to the Cough, Cold & Flu Season for links to online medical assistance as well as primary care and clinic options in the region.