Posted on Tuesday January 03, 2017
Durham -— Lakeridge Health has set up a command centre to deal with a record number of Emergency Department visits and hospital admissions this week.
“We’re experiencing volumes over and above our usual holiday numbers,” says Lakeridge Health President and CEO Matthew Anderson. “Our health care teams are doing superhuman work to deal with this province-wide surge.”
Emergency Department volumes are expected to remain high for the foreseeable future, and other hospitals across the province are struggling with similar volumes. To help deal with this, Lakeridge Health has set up a command centre with a special team that will meet several times a day and monitor the situation closely 24/7.
“We’re always very busy at this time of year, so we’ve planned ahead by making sure we have additional staff and we’ve opened 40 more beds,” explains Leslie Motz, VP and Chief Nursing Executive. “Despite this, at times we’ve had more than 60 people in our Emergency Department waiting for a bed — so we need to take further action.”
Because Emergency Department staff are caring for both incoming patients as well as people waiting for an available bed, Motz advises that Emergency Department wait times are longer than usual. For non-urgent health care needs, she reminds people to visit their family doctor or nearest urgent care or walk-in clinic.
“As always, if it’s an emergency, please go to your nearest emergency department,” Motz said.
For more information contact:
Lakeridge Health Communications
T-905.576.8711 communications@lakeridgehealth.on.ca
