Pandemic leaves 14,585 people waiting for surgery in Hamilton
Hospitals at 70 per cent of pre-COVID surgical volumes and overcrowded
Hamilton’s hospitals have a backlog of nearly 15,000 surgeries.
Two years of pandemic have left 8,085 waiting for surgery at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and 6,500 at St. Joseph’s Healthcare.
Both hospital networks have started ramping up again after having to pause all but the most urgent cases during Omicron’s hard-hitting fifth wave.
But the hospitals are still only at 70 per cent of pre-COVID-19 surgical volumes, and they are overcrowded.
Occupancy was 112 per cent at Juravinski Hospital, 104 per cent at Hamilton General Hospital and 100 per cent at St Joseph’s Healthcare. Ideal is up to 90 per cent.
When hospitals are over 100 per cent occupancy, they have to open beds that are not funded by the province — sometimes in unconventional spaces, which is why it’s called “hallway medicine.”
In a COVID -19 update Tuesday, HHS said factors affecting the hospital network’s gradual resumption of services include, “sustained high occupancy rates, high emergency department admit-to-no-bed volumes, the use of unfunded beds/ capacity (and) health human resource challenges, including a high number of vacancies.”
The hospitals still have 197 staff self-isolating. It’s a significant improvement from 1,032 on Jan. 17, but continues to cause strain.
As a result, the ramp-up is not even across departments because it’s “dependent on the availability of staff and physicians,” HHS said in the update.
The number of COVID patients in Hamilton hospitals dropped to 49 on Tuesday with fewer than five in the intensive care unit (ICU). St. Joseph’s had no COVID patients in its ICU and was treating just four of those hospitalized.
When it comes to Hamiltonians, nine were hospitalized with COVID Tuesday and one was in the ICU. The number reported by the city is lower because the hospitals care for patients from a wide area beyond Hamilton.
“New hospitalizations and ICU admissions for COVID-19 reported each day have recently plateaued,” said Michelle Baird, director of the epidemiology, wellness and communicable disease control division at public health.
“Our COVID-19 health indicators continue to be low in Hamilton.”
The city has six active outbreaks, including one declared March 4 at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, where one inmate has tested positive. It’s the third outbreak at the Barton Street jail during the fifth wave, which started Dec. 1 in Hamilton and peaked from Jan. 9 to Jan. 24.
A big concern as Ontario reopens and the hospitals ramp up is the drop in COVID shots per day given out in Hamilton. It peaked at just over 10,000 doses per day on Dec. 21 and 22 and is now down to fewer than 500 shots daily in the last three days.
Shots given out per day were 467 for March 5, 220 for March 6 and 346 for March 7. It’s signifiant because the city has a long way to go, particularly for certain groups.
Third doses have been stalled at 56 per cent of adults age 18-plus since at least Feb. 28. Coverage is lower than 40 per cent for Hamiltonians age 18 to 29. It’s below 45 per cent for those age 30 to 34. Among youth age 12 to 17, just 10 per cent have had a third shot.
Third shots are key because two doses don’t stop the spread of Omicron — they do protect against serious illness.
Three doses provides roughly 60 per cent protection against infection and is better at guarding against severe outcomes, with 90 per cent effectiveness compared to 80 per cent for two doses.
Hamilton kids age five to 12 are also lagging, with just one in two having one shot and one in three having two doses.
Immunization is particularly important as Omicron subvariant BA.2 is expected to become the dominant strain in Ontario by midMarch. Known as “Stealth Omicron,” it is about 30 per cent more transmissible.
High vaccination also helps keep the hospitals on track, as HHS looks to reopen more outpatient clinics.
Hamilton kids age five to 12 are also lagging, with just one in two having one shot and one in three having two doses