St. Mary's Hospital over capacity, adds beds, cancels 2 surgeries

St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener cancelled two electivesurgeries on Wednesday morning in order to accommodate an influx of 14 patients they're holding in the emergency department.

"The surgeries are non-cardiac, non-cancer procedures," said Angela Stanley, vice president of patient services and chief nursing executive at the hospital.

"Cancelling surgeries, though, is our very last option. We try to explore every other option before we do that," she said.

"We're running at about 110% capacity."

Doctors were also askedtoassess their patients for discharge "as soon as possible."

"Proactive planning is encouraged so that we can best utilize resources over the remainder of the week," the hospital said.

Flu acontributing factor

Stanley confirmed the prevalence of influenza hascontributedtoincreased numbers of patients they've been seeing in the emergency department.

"It is certainly one factor," she said. "There are [also] a variety of illnesses that are impacting the community."

Typically, St. Mary's faces a "surge" of patientsat this time of the year based upon respiratory illness. But this year, the hospital isexperiencing an ongoing volume increase over the entire year,which is considered "unusual."

"This is the first year for that," Stanleysaid.

16 extra beds

As a result, the hospital has added 16 extra "surge," or temporary beds, to accommodatethe added volume of people needing at least oneovernight stay.

"Some of the patients that we are holding in emergencyare waiting for in-patient beds," said Stanley.

The additional beds will be there for the remainder of the month.

"We really are doing a day-by-day review of what our census is... thenwe look at how we reduce those beds if possible, based on patient volumes."

The cancelled surgeries are currently being rescheduled.

"We're working with the patients and the surgeons to do that in a very quick fashion," said Stanley.

Ambulance calls also up

Steven VanValkenburg,chief of paramedic services for the Region of Waterloo, also said his teamreceived an increased volume of emergency calls over the last three years.

"Overall, we're experiencing about a 7.8 per cent increase year-over-year," said VanValkenburg.