CHEO hiring new staff amid 'incredibly difficult' capacity challenges

Ottawa's children's hospital is hiring more staff and launchingnew online tools to tacklecapacity challenges they say they'veneverseenin their 48-year history.

In a press release, CHEO said they are at 124 per cent capacity in their in-patient medical units amid a "major surge" of patients needing both mental health and critical care, and that all budgeted beds are full.

Some patients admitted to the emergency department are waiting up to 30 to 48 hours for abed, the hospital said.

That's made April to September 2022 the busiest six-month period ever for thedepartment.

"It's been an incredibly difficult period," said Tammy DeGiovanni, CHEO's senior vice-president of clinical services.

Several non-urgentand elective surgeries have also been cancelled due to the shortage of available bedsand staff, DeGiovanni said.

The number of patients has also risen due to an unusually prolonged viral season, she added.

"Our intensive care unit is bulging ... we have kids going across the province just to get an intensive care bed," DeGiovanni said.

$1.2M in funding

With the help of a $1.2-million infusion fromOntario Health and CHEO sponsors, DeGiovanni said the hospital is implementing measures in an attempt to ensure timely care.

CHEO is hiring more than a dozen positions in the emergency department, while also unveiling newonline toolsand improving the modelling on their website for wait times.

Without timely, quality health care, children can face huge negative impacts, she said.

"It means that they're not meeting their developmental milestones. They're falling behind in school, they're falling behind their peers," she said.

"From a social perspective, there are just so many more risks for having those long delays."

The hospital is alsomoving more medical professionals to frontline roles, adding shifts and embedding specialists with clinical care teams to ensure patients are discharged sooner.

DeGiovanni said CHEO is also talking to Ontario Health about settingup "an integrated system" that links primary care with acute care and other medical services that children need although that's likely a long-term solution.

"We let kids go until there's an acute problem, and then we swoop in to try and solve the problem," she said, "So it's to get ahead of that."

For now,DeGiovanni suggestsparentsmay want to explore other optionslike taking their child to a family doctor, care clinic or walk-in clinic to avoid the frustrations of long wait times.