A Toronto hospital says it is under a “critical care bed alert” with its three intensive care units at capacity due to staff shortages.
Toronto General Hospital said in an email Tuesday that its cardiovascular intensive care unit, cardiac intensive care unit and medical surgical intensive care unit are at their “total bed capacity” or have limited human resources to keep all of their physical critical care beds safely open and in service.
“Due to multiple factors, including issues caused by the ongoing pandemic, we are experiencing staffing shortages that require this action,” Gillian Howard, spokeswoman for the University Health Network, which includes Toronto General Hospital, said in the email.
Howard said when a hospital is on a critical care bed alert, it triages patients who need work in a specialized intensive care unit and works collaboratively to ensure patients receive the appropriate care they need.
The three intensive care units treat “different groups of patients” who need intensive care, Howard said.
The warning comes after about 25 Ontario hospitals were forced to cut sections of their facilities over the long weekend due to staff shortages, according to the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA).
ONA President Catherine Hoy said Monday that over the weekend, hospitals had to close wards, reduce beds or divert patients. She called the situation a “disaster” and warned that staff shortages seen in hospitals across the province over the weekend would only get worse.
“This spending has to stop now. It really does. And nurses leave every single day,” Hoy said. “And if this continues and there’s no ray of sunshine or hope from the government, it’s only going to get worse.”
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the provincial government is looking at ways to get more internationally trained nurses to work in the province to ease staffing shortages. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Dennett)
The warning also comes amid a growing chorus of opposition MPs calling on Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones to provide tangible solutions to what they say is a crisis facing the province’s health care system.
The province is working to resolve the issue, the minister said
Jones told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that the provincial government is considering how to get more internationally trained nurses to work in the province to ease staffing shortages.
Jones said her role over the past few weeks has been to meet with organizations and individuals in the sector who have solutions and listen to their feedback.
The health minister said the work included what the government had already been doing for the past four years, which included increasing the number of workers in the system – it touted more than 10,000 added since the pandemic began.
She said the government would introduce “additional measures” to increase capacity and specifically mentioned the backlog of internationally trained health workers awaiting certification.
CBC Toronto has repeatedly reached out to Jones for an interview about staffing shortages in Ontario hospitals. All requests were denied.
Another aerial drone view of Toronto General Hospital taken on December 15, 2020 (Sue Reid/CBC)
NDP health critic Frans Gelinas said in a news release Tuesday that Jones is not listening to patients and frontline health workers.
“If Jones doesn’t find this mess unacceptable, how bad is she willing to let our health care system go?” Gelinas asked. “Seriously ill patients are moved. Long waits and medicine in the hallway are rife. And some people will rush to the ER only to find the doors locked.”
The NDP, health unions and front-line health workers have called on the government to repeal the legislation, known as Bill 124, which caps nurses’ annual salary increases.
The Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, which was passed in 2019, caps wage increases for provincial employees, including nurses, at one per cent per year, which is below the rate of inflation.
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