Health authorities across Canada have cut the hours of hospital emergency departments and urgent care clinics in recent weeks, a move that in some cases may extend into the summer, due to a surge in patients and a shortage of supplies. staff.
The situation, doctors say, is tied to a resurgence of viral infections like COVID-19 among adults and children and a push by others to seek care delayed by the pandemic, and exacerbated by the large number of health workers who are sick or burned. outside.
The tension has given rise to scenes of clogged hospital corridors and overflowing clinic waiting rooms, hours-long waits for inpatient care, and occupancy rates of more than 100% at children’s hospitals. It has also reignited debate about systemic problems in the government-funded health system.
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On Thursday, Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital in eastern Ontario announced that its emergency department in Perth would be closed Saturday through Thursday due to an outbreak of COVID-19 affecting its staff.
“It’s like the four horsemen of the apocalypse descending on us all at once in health care,” said Alan Drummond, a family and emergency room doctor based in the city, which is home to about 6,000 people.
Drummond, who spoke to Reuters before the closure was announced, sees patients waiting 20 hours to be admitted, a situation that can lead to a deterioration in their condition or even medical errors. He blames years of inadequate funding for hospital beds and community care for the situation.
While hospitals in small towns and cities across Canada sometimes reduce their hours, it is more rare for regional health centers to do so.
The Ontario Ministry of Health did not say how many hospitals in the province, Canada’s most populous, are affected by partial or temporary closures, but said it has taken steps to address the problem, including retaining nurses and other hospital workers. Health.
“Sometimes hospitals must make the difficult decision to temporarily close their emergency departments so that operations can continue in the rest of the hospital,” a ministry spokesman said.
Hospitals in Quebec, the country’s second-largest province, New Brunswick and Manitoba also have departments partially closed or are temporarily cutting hours from a couple of weeks to several months, according to hospital statements.
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In Kingston, Ontario, the Hotel Dieu Hospital Urgent Care Clinic reduced its hours over the Canada Day long weekend. A spokesman for the Kingston Health Sciences Center described the move, which began Friday, as a one-time planned reduction, but added that “staff shortages and the current increase in patient volume were expected to continue for All summer”.
Children have been hit hard by the health care crisis as young people with no previous exposure to a number of viruses succumbed to the disease during the spring as many people ditched face masks used to prevent the spread of COVID. -19.
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, operated at between 110% and 120% capacity for weeks in May and early June. The occupancy was a record for the month of May, a spokesman said.
The shortage of staff and the increase in the number of patients is “kind of a perfect storm,” said Katharine Smart, a pediatrician and president of the Canadian Medical Association.
FUNDING DEBATE
Canada has the fourth-lowest number of funded intensive care beds per capita among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, according to the OECD, and the Commonwealth Fund ranked Canada’s health system penultimate among 11 rich countries.
Some blame underfunding of the health system dating back to the 1990s, when Canada’s federal government cut spending to control the country’s deficit.
Others, like the right-leaning Fraser Institute, say the government-funded system itself is the root cause of the problems, suggesting moving toward a private pay model.
Canada may have little time to waste.
Rami Rahal, vice president of the Canadian Cancer Association, said there is a danger of worsening cancer illness and deaths in the country due to long periods in which screening tests were skipped or delayed and treatment was postponed. treatment.
“We cannot contract our way out of this crisis,” he said. “We have to find innovative ways to deliver care.”
(Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Paul Simao)