Northeastern Ontario hospitals cope with cancelling procedures, isolating staff as Omicron variant surges

As more people enter hospital amid COVID-19, northeastern Ontario facilities are working to reduce the impact on staff and patients.

On Wednesday, a provincial directive took effect, instructing hospitals and health-care professionals to stop all non-urgent surgeries and procedures to preserve critical care capacity and human resources.

Paul Heinrich, chief executive officer of the North Bay Regional Health Centre, said 180 staff at that hospital either have COVID-19 or are self-isolating due to exposure.

"So that's probably about more than eight per cent of our staff that are off currently," he said. "That's already creating tremendous anxiety."

Heinrich said the situation is layered on staff who have not had a break during the pandemic.

"You can imagine how challenging that is from a morale perspective."

Both the hospitals in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie also report staff are off either due to having COVID-19 or being exposed to it.

In Sudbury, Dominic Giroux, president and CEO of Health Sciences North, said the number of hospitalizations is increasing fast.

"Just to give you an example, when I left the hospital last night, we had 23 admitted patients with COVID. When I came in this morning, we had 30 patients with COVID, including four in ICU," he said. 

Ila Watson, CEO of the Sault Area Hospital, said the admission of COVID patients is in a "stable state," with eight admitted patients with COVID-19, including two in the ICU. She said it's not the highest level they've seen.

"We have every expectation that this will increase."

Giroux said the impact of cancelled surgeries and procedures is difficult for hospital staff.

He said in the last six months of 2021, the hospital operated at 90 per cent of its historical volume in the surgical program, and this week and next, it will operate at 80 per cent.

"We do not like to postpone surgeries and procedures," he said.

"Should the need be there, then we will need to ramp down further over the coming weeks. But it's a decision we don't take lightly because we're very concerned about increased surgical wait lists due to the pandemic."

Heinrich said hospitals do not like to impact patient care, but have to make adjustments given the current situation.

"Quality of care and access to care is our primary directive," he said.

"We're doing everything we can under incredible extraordinary circumstances."