Cambridge hospital CEO on the wait for patient beds and the impact of COVID-19

Moving patients out of the emergency room and into a bed in a ward at Cambridge Memorial Hospital took more than 26 hours for some cases in December, January and February, the hospital's president and CEO Patrick Gaskin says.

In a report to the hospital's board, he said the wait is due to increased admission rates at the emergency room.

But he also told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition that patients are staying longer in hospital beds while they wait for post-hospital care, either returning to their homes with support or going into a long-term care facility.

"It is definitely a system issue for us in terms of being able to respond and partly, it's the issue that the system across Ontario is at capacity in terms of the volumes of care that we're doing across the system," he said.

"Our hospital is essentially no different than our sister hospital St. Mary's and Grand River and others that are seeing an increase and have seen an increase for over a couple of years now of volume increase across the system."

Gaskin said they open up extra beds when possible, which puts pressure on staff who are being asked to cover more patients.

"Any day, we could have upwards of 15 extra beds opened so that we can try to get help with that flow" of patients, he said.

Impact of COVID-19

That's on a regular day. Now, with the coronavirus, Gaskin says local hospitals are working to stay ahead of the looming healthcare crisis that could see hospitals quickly overwhelmed.

"I think it is really important that people recognize we have a co-ordinated response working with the other hospitals," he said, noting there are talks about where the hospitals can redeploy staff to best serve the community.

"It is critical that we keep our community and our patients and our staff safe through this," he said. 

"This is a serious situation — we can't underscore the seriousness of this — and the hospitals are taking together with public health …  everyone's working every day on this to make sure we stay ahead of it."

Change to visitor policy

Gaskin said part of that response is limiting visitors to hospitals. Cambridge has started active screening of visitors, meaning they will have to answer questions about their health and travels before going inside. If you've travelled outside of Ontario, you won't be able to go in to see a patient, he said.

"It's important that we keep our staff and keep our patients safe," Gaskin said.

"It's going to be a bit clunky for all of the hospitals. We're asking for the patience of our patients and our visitors."

Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital also announced changes to visitor policies that were to start on Monday.

Region of Waterloo Public Health said people should not go to the hospital for COVID-19 testing unless directed to do so by public health officials.

Patients will also be limited to one visitor or companion "except for exceptional circumstances."

These measures will be in place as long as necessary, the hospitals said.

Gaskin said people should check hospital websites before visiting and to remember things will change going forward.

"What I say today may be different tomorrow, may be different the next day, but we are really wanting to lockdown to keep the virus out and to keep our staff and our patients safe," he said.

Listen to the whole interview: