Sudbury hospital reports more admitted COVID patients

The head of Health Sciences North in Sudbury said the number of admitted patients due to COVID-19 continues to rise.

President and CEO Dominic Giroux said there are currently 60 patients admitted with COVID-19 and another 23 past-positive patients.

Giroux said on Friday, the hospital will reach a grim milestone when the 500th COVID-19 patient is admitted.

"That's a sobering milestone," he said.

"What we're definitely seeing with Omicron is sheer volume. To have 60 patients admitted is unheard of at HSN. Provincially, on Christmas Day there were 500 COVID patients admitted in Ontario hospitals and yesterday there were more than 4,000."

Giroux said currently, about four per cent of staff, or about 190 employees are off because they have either tested positive for the virus or are a close-contact.

To assist, he said about 130 hospital staff have been moved from one department to another.

"Many of these staff who are redeployed are coming from the 35 of our outpatient services," he said.

"Most of the redeployed staff are nurses or allied health professionals who are redeployed to other units."

Giroux acknowledged it can be difficult for staff working at the hospital.

"Change is tough. It's not easy," he said.

"The redeployed staff are working in new areas where they may not be as familiar with, with colleagues they are not used to. Their shifts are maybe changing. But that change is necessary right now and not unique to HSN."

Giroux said patients may have delays in appointments as a result.

"It may take longer for new referrals to be seen for their first appointment," he said.

"We're advising patients to attend their booked appointment in outpatient services unless they're contacted by the hospital."

Giroux said plans are in place to deal with more patients and less staff.

"Our responsibility is to prepare for the worse. Our COVID admissions since Christmas have increased from eight to 60 today. That's an increase of about three to four admissions per day," he said.

"We need to anticipate that COVID admissions will continue to rise in the coming days and weeks."

Giroux said convalescent care beds have been opened at other facilities in the city and surgical procedures continue to be reduced.