Some Guelph patients could be transported to Fergus amid high call volume

Some patients visiting Guelph General Hospital (GGH) on Monday could be moved to a hospital in another community as inpatient volumes, and high call volumes strain the local hospital.

On Monday just after 11 a.m., the Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service (GWPS) said the higher call volume means non-urgent patients are facing a move to Groves Memorial Community Hospital (GMCH), which is a 20 to 25 minute drive from GGH.

“The Guelph General Hospital has spoken with the Groves Hospital in Fergus, and Groves Memorial Community Hospital has agreed to accept our lower-priority patients,” said Stephen Dewar, chief and general manager of Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service. “So, if we encounter a patient who’s not life-threatening, and has concerns such as a possible fracture and that type of thing, we will be transporting them to Fergus rather than the Guelph General Hospital.”

Dewar said the high call volumes meant at one point on Monday there was only one available ambulance to cover all of Wellington County and the City of Guelph.

Dewar said in speaking to the Guelph hospital he was told there were over 30 patients who had been admitted and were waiting to be moved upstairs. At the time, the hospital was also facing an ICU capacity that had surged to 150 per cent.

“As of this morning, [at] the Guelph General Hospital, we have seven ambulances in offload delay, so our paramedics have to continue to care for those patients,” said Dewar.

On a typical day, the GWPS has 15 ambulances available for patients’ needs.

The lack of ambulances meant the paramedic service had to call on ambulances from the Region of Waterloo to come to the city to help handle calls.

“When the hospital is overwhelmed, and the hospital can’t accept the patient right away, the paramedics are required to stay in the hospital and care for the patient is termed offload delay,” said Dewar.

Dewar said he believed some paramedics and ambulances had been in offload delay for over four hours on Monday.

“This happens occasionally, and far too often,” said Dewar.

“We’ve requested, if it’s at all possible, to delay if this is not an urgent call.”

Melissa Skinner, chief nursing executive at GGH, said the hospital is seeing unprecedented increases in the number of patients.

“[We have] 36 patients waiting in the emergency department who need to eventually be admitted to hospital, but there is just no capacity in the hospital,’ said Skinner.

Hospitals in Waterloo region are also working over maximum capacity.

At Cambridge Memorial Hospital, there are currently 21 people in the emergency department waiting for an inpatient bed.

Grand River Hospital said its overall occupancy is approximately 93 per cent, but it’s over 100 per cent in adult inpatient medicine, inpatient surgery, adult mental health, oncology and inpatient pediatrics.

Michelle Meyer, stakeholder engagement specialist at Grand River Hospital, said it is important to keep practical factors in mind, such as when a patient is admitted for care – for example, an available bed in childbirth is not suitable for a stroke patient.

“When we exceed 100 per cent capacity, we have a variety of strategies in place to provide patients with the right care. This can include postponing surgeries and working with partners across the health system to ensure patients receive the care that they need,” said Meyer.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH WEIGHS IN

The Ministry of Health said it has a plan to stay open to ensure that Ontarians will continue to have access to the care they need when they need it.

According to the ministry, the plan will support the healthcare system to address the urgent pressures of today while preparing for a potential fall and winter surge so our province and economy can stay open.

“We’ve already added over 3,500 new critical care, acute and post-acute hospital beds and over 12,400 health care professionals, including nurses and personal support workers, as well as over 1,000 internationally educated nurses which have been deployed to hospitals across Ontario to gain the language and practice experience they need to become practicing nurses in Ontario. Since taking office, our government has also added over 1,060 doctors in Family Medicine,” the ministry said in an email to CTV News.

We are experiencing extreme high call volume - non-urgent patients are being moved to non local hospitals to ease intake #maketherightcall @cityofguelph #911foremergencies pic.twitter.com/IagsLj144A

— GWPS (@GWParamedic) December 5, 2022