Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is reporting a significant increase in the number of pediatric patients being transferred to other hospitals amid a wave of respiratory illness across the province.

In a statement provided to CTV News Toronto Wednesday, a spokesperson for the hospital confirmed it’s currently transferring an average of two to eight patients to community hospitals per day, up from two to three per week. Those being transferred are patients that do not require the level of care SickKids specializes in, they said.

“SickKids works with community hospital partners who have pediatric units to transfer patients when appropriate, often getting them closer to home,” spokesperson for the hospital, Jessamine Luck, said.

“Timely transfers of these patients help SickKids to maintain or increase capacity for those that do need the type of specialized paediatric care that is only available at SickKids or other children’s hospitals.”

To assist with the increase in transfers, paramedic services from Peel and York confirmed they have been lending their EMS vehicles to the hospital and have transferred a total of 17 patients as of Dec. 13.

Luck said SickKids has had daily access to a designated EMS vehicle since Dec. 4.

These transfers are the latest measure from the hospital, which has been operating under immense pressure brought on by a combination of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19.

To help ease the burden, SickKids put some surgeries on hold in November and redeployed some staff to preserve critical care. The hospital has cancelled 279 surgeries since the ramp-down order went out in mid-November. As of Dec. 13, there were 6,157 children on the waitlist for various surgeries.

It’s also been promoting the use of its virtual urgent care program, which jumped from seeing about 40 patients per day to more than 200 in October and November, and emergency medicine technicians are being trained to take blood to further alleviate pressure on nurses, the hospital says.

SickKids’ emergency department has beds for about 39 patients, but recently, patients have been spilling over into beds in the nearby orthopedic clinic by 4 p.m.

The department is funded and staffed to see 65,000 patients annually but is on track to see more than 90,000 children this year—about 8,000 more patients than it has ever seen in the span of a year.

With files from The Canadian Press and CP24's Bryann Aguilar