A downtown hospital was able to secure enough last-minute workers for its emergency room this weekend after being at risk of shutting down amid a staff shortage.
University Health Network (UHN) issued a memo to medical staff this week saying it was experiencing a “severe shortage” of staff at Toronto Western Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED).
The network said it was in “urgent need” of “volunteers” to fill nursing shifts from Friday to Sunday.
“We will not be able to safely operate the TWH ED if we are unable to fill nursing shifts this weekend,” UHN staff wrote in the memo obtained by CP24.
“I am aware it is an extra burden to ask for volunteers once again from our health professions including physicians, to take team-extender shifts. In the last wave of Covid our physicians, residents and fellows stepped up several times to do so.”
UHN added that remuneration would be $50 per hour.
Saturday morning, UHN confirmed to CP24 that they were able to find workers for this weekend and that the emergency department is “now covered.”
“UHN, like many hospitals, was in a very tight situation for staffing over the weekend because of significantly higher numbers of patients presenting to the ED, sicker patients, staffing shortages, staff illness and well-deserved and needed vacation scheduling,” UHN Spokesperson Gillian Howard said in a statement.
Howard added that units across the organization were able to take admitted patients from EDs “as quickly as possible,” which helped ease pressure on emergency rooms.
UHN consists of the Toronto General and Toronto Western hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and The Michener Institute of Education.
Throughout the pandemic Ontario's healthcare system has been overwhelmed with an influx of infected patients and worker burnout.
Co-host of the Gritty Nurse podcast Sara Fung says she was not surprised Toronto Western was close to closing its ED this weekend as worker shortages have been a constant issue.
"Unfortunately, it's not totally surprising to me because I feel that as nurses, as a profession, we've been speaking out about this for a long time. Even prior to the pandemic, these are long-standing issues that haven't gotten better. And so without any firm action from the government and from leaders I was not surprised to see this," she told CP24 on Saturday.
Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario CEO Doris Grinspun says this situation is preventable if the government repeals Bill 124, a bill which caps wage increases to a maximum of one per cent total compensation for three years.
Grinspun added that more funding and resources are need to train and retain nurses.
"The reality is nurse extenders whether it is doctors or physiotherapists or others is not a solution because it puts extra burden on the registered nurses that are working there. So the solution is to bring more registered nurses and most importantly to retain the ones we have. And they're exhausted and they're leaving because their solutions are not coming," she told CP24 on Saturday.
As Ontario grapples with a seventh wave of the pandemic, Howard says hospitals are working on long-term solutions to avoid worker shortages.
“This wave of the pandemic is affecting staffing in all healthcare organizations. Healthcare professionals continue to rise to the challenge but it has been a very long and hard grind and people are tired,” she said.
“These solutions are short-term and we are focused on longer-term solutions, including international recruitment, training and deployment of clinical supports, digital health solutions to name a few.”
