Staff at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance are feeling the pinch with more patients being admitted to hospital with respiratory viruses this fall.
CKHA CEO Lori Marshall says hospitals in Chatham and Wallaceburg seeing more patients being admitted, needing a higher level of care than before.
“Our volume to the emergency department on a daily basis, the visits are still not back to the volume that we saw prior to the pandemic,” Marshall explains. “Overall, it’s not that the visits themselves are the issue. The issue is that those who are coming to the emergency department are sicker and what that means is a higher percentage of them end up being admitted as a result.”
The Chatham site of CKHA saw a 20% increase in adult patients being admitted with respiratory illnesses in October, compared to 40% in Wallaceburg. There were 33% more children admitted in Chatham that month, and 33% in Wallaceburg. Overall, 85% of paediatric visits to the emergency department are for children 8 years old and younger.
Local officials are lending their voice to a growing chorus across the province, urging patients to seek alternate levels of care before coming to the ER.
Caen Suni, Vice President of Clinical Programs and Operations says there are after-hours and evening clinics for patients of local family health teams, however the options for those who don’t have a primary care provider are limited.
“There are a number of walk-in clinics locally, which we would encourage our local residents who are unattached to avail themselves of,” Suni says. “We are trying to focus on where we can provide that level of care for unattached patients, we’re working with our Ontario Health Team as well as other partners to understand where we can best provide for additional hours and how the care teams can all work together to increase that access.”
The CKHA assessment centre in Chatham does have a physician on site each day who is able to see patients and treat respiratory illnesses, not just COVID-19, and Suni says they are working on expanding the service.