As with hospitals across the province, staffing continues to be a struggle at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
Health care workers across Ontario have been dealing with increased patient volumes, staff burnout, and staff absences. Some hospitals were even forced to close emergency rooms for short periods over the summer, although CKHA did not reach that point.
Health Alliance CEO Lori Marshall says it’s a common theme, not only in Ontario but nation-wide.
“We’re still challenged in terms of making sure that we have staff here on a daily basis, sometimes I hear people are working short in different areas,” Marshall explains. “We continue to have a higher vacancy rate than we would like to see.”
Marshall says the organization is putting a greater emphasis on recruitment, including offering a $25,000 signing bonuses for nurses.
Some positive news on Chatham-Kent’s health care front as surgeries are getting back on track.
Marshall says operating rooms are exceeding 100% of procedures done during 2019, the most normal year before the pandemic.
“We’ve had very few cancellations over the course of the last year and, knock on wood, we hope that will continue into fall with either flu season in general or if there’s another surge in COVID,” Marshall says. “We have to make sure that we put our attention there and make sure we have sufficient beds and options to support that population.”
She says in the event of a surge in other medical needs, elective surgeries have to take a back seat.
