Health Sciences North faces 'tsunami' as 1,400 staff near retirement, says CEO

Sudbury's Health Sciences North hospital faces "a tsunami" as the region's population continues to age and 1,400 employees will be eligible to retire in the next five years, the hospital CEO said.

Health Sciences North president and CEO Dominic Giroux said the hospital recruited 800 employees in the last year, but is short-staffed despite those efforts. Of the 1,400 employees who will be eligible to retire in the near future, he said 400 are nurses. 

Despite some recent improvements, Giroux said there are still 5,100 people on the hospital's surgical waitlist.

Wait times for surgeries grew due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as more hospital resources were dedicated to treating people with the virus and the hospital also had to deal with staffing shortages. Giroux said it has been a problem across Ontario. 

As of Monday, May 17, Health Sciences North had 29 patients admitted with COVID-19, including two in the intensive care unit. The hospital had an additional 55 "past positive" patients, who were admitted due to COVID-19, but no longer test positive for the virus. But those patients do require hospital care.

Those numbers are down from recent months. At the end of April, the hospital had 61 patients who were admitted for COVID-19.

Overall, the hospital had 513 admitted patients on May 13, but was only designed for 441.

"This morning, we have about 15 patients in the emergency department who have been admitted and are still waiting for a bed," Giroux said.

With regards to staff, on May 13 Health Sciences North had 71 employees and physicians who were isolating at home because they either tested positive for COVID-19, or were in close contact with someone who tested positive.

Staffing challenges in the Soo

At the Sault Area Hospital, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., staffing was a challenge at certain times due to the pandemic.

"I described it at the board meeting last evening as a patchwork quilt some days, but we've been able to maintain all service throughout that difficult period," said Sue Roger, the hospital's vice-president of clinical operations and chief nursing executive.

But Roger said staff absences due to COVID-19 are at a quarter of what they were one month ago. 

Over the long term, Roger said staff retention is a priority at the hospital.

"Health and wellness of our staff has been a priority for some time," she said. "But we're really thinking about work-life balance, how do we help mitigate, for example, the calls for overtime."

Roger said nurses with one year of experience are working in the hospital's emergency department and intensive care unit.

"And historically, those would have been quite senior nursing positions in the past where you might have four or five years experience before you would ever step into intensive care," she said.

The Sault Area Hospital's COVID-19 admissions have decreased in the last month, with 17 admitted patients as of May 17. Roger said the number has peaked past 30 patients in previous months. 

With fewer COVID-19 cases, surgical wait times have also improved. Roger said there are 3,000 patients on their surgical waitlist, but they have been able to fast-track more urgent surgeries, and especially cancer operations.