The COVID-19 pandemic is possibly causing a flood of patients to strain the acute care system at Chatham-Kent’s hospital, but not for the reason you may think.
According to Caen Suni, VP of Clinical Programs and Operations at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, hospital officials believe the pandemic has resulted in numerous people delaying necessary care. Now that COVID-19 cases have been on the decline and health restrictions have eased, Suni said those individuals are now likely coming to the hospital all at once.
“Over the course of the last few months, these pressures have increased. So what we’re seeing is a greater number of individuals, but also a greater number of individuals who are staying longer in hospital,” he said. “We are seeing admission [levels] that are roughly the same over the last six months, but we’re not seeing discharges as quickly.”
Last week, CKHA officials issued a public service announcement warning of longer than normal wait times in the hospital’s emergency departments, due to capacity issues caused by the influx of patients.
“It’s something we’re very much keeping a keen eye on and we’re hoping that in the next couple of weeks our work will see the [patient] flow improve,” said Suni.
Hospital officials are continuing to ask the public to seek non-emergency medical care in community settings where possible, such as a family physician or a walk-in medical clinic.
