Quinte Health officials are commending their staff after a severe respiratory illness surge that resulted in a record number of admitted patients across its hospitals.
The surge began in mid-December with the Hastings Prince Edward region experiencing significantly higher hospitalization rates related to respiratory illness compared to other areas in the Southeast region.
At the peak, there were 275 medicine patients across their hospitals at one time, an increase of about 40 patients over the peak a year earlier.
Quinte Health President and CEO Stacey Daub says despite the record numbers, the stability of their staffing helped them navigate the pressures.
“We have hired a lot of individuals and people over the last number of years through our partnership with Loyalist and included in that is something called a transitions pool. Kind of a supernumerary group that is designed to help us when people have illnesses or when departments are getting more patients than they could actually manage.”
Chief of Staff Dr. Colin MacPherson says that of course they would still like to have more physicians and hospitalists but their team has been working collaboratively to meet the need.
Daub noted that not only were the Emergency Departments busy but so were the ICUs, meaning there were a lot of very sick people.
Quinte Health activated an Incident Management Team to support frontline care, address patient flow challenges, and coordinate closely with system partners to ensure patients could transition safely out of hospital when appropriate.
While the health system remains under strain, early signs of stabilization were reported in January.
