There’s always a surge in the number of patients going to hospital when the colder weather sets in but this season Quinte Health’s hospitals have seen record numbers.
Quinte Health President Stacey Daub told the board of directors Tuesday that there were over 240 people regularly in care in December and January which is 20 more than was expected and 70 more that are funded by the provincial government.
Daub called the season a “tripledemic” featuring the flu, RSV, and COVID-19 along with various stomach bugs.
Daub said they had to put patients and beds in places they normally wouldn’t be.
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” … included things like managers’ offices or in our cardiac area. What I would say is that teams were extremely creative, hard-working, and collaborative.”
Meanwhile, Daub said the creation of “transition teams” was a big plus during the patient surge.
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“So we have some people who are trained to work in the emergency department, the ICU or on an inpatient unit. So
if we have a unit that really needs help they would actually go and provide that help and support.”
Currently there are 29 nurses and 12 personal support workers in the transition pool.
Daub said hospitals province-wide need more funding, more beds and more community services to deal with the increasing numbers of patients.