Hospitals say they have emergency plans for the loss of nurses, doctors and other staff, as they come out positive or isolated thanks to close contacts, but it was difficult for those who remain. This has raised questions about the health system’s ability to scale if the sixth wave is comparable to what the province went through earlier this year. “It makes the staffing of units and areas much more difficult and means that staff who are already tired after more than two years of work during the pandemic are taking on more shifts or taking on more workloads,” said Gillian Howard, a spokeswoman. University of Health. Network. “The health care system needs people to be vaccinated with vaccines, to continue to cover and to be vigilant about concentrating in large groups,” Howard said. At Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, 137 employees are away, the hospital said. At Scarborough Health Network, 189 are at home. At Unity Health, 320 are absent. At the University Health Network, there are 465 people out of work, with 405 returning in seven days, the hospital said. Toronto SickKids Hospital has 303 COVID-related staff absences, with 240 tested positive and 63 isolated from exposure. At Hamilton Health Sciences, the only CTV News network Toronto requested from the daily numbers, 575 were in isolation, up 77 from the previous day, up 72 from the previous day. There are a total of 1,989 employees, not including many hospitals or hospital networks that did not respond to inquiries from CTV News, including the William Osler Health Network. “If you know someone in healthcare, you will hear well-known stories we heard a few months ago with people out because they have been infected or exposed to COVID-19 and some significant staff pressure,” said infectious. disease specialist Dr Isaac Bogoch. “Precisely because this wave may not be the same size as the wave we just had, we are still in the middle of one and it still affects the healthcare system and those who work in it and obviously you need to take steps to protect yourself. and those around you, “he said. While some hospitals have reported cases, it is possible for healthcare workers to catch the infection from outside the community, including schools, said emergency room doctor Dr. Lisa Salamon-Switzman. “When everyone goes out and children in schools do not wear masks, it puts their parents at risk of not being able to work,” she said in an interview. “You can imagine in my department the team of doctors, if our children get COVID we can not work. “And even a few of us who can not work is causing a huge crisis in our hospital,” he said. He said the provincial government ‘s predictions that the healthcare system could be scaled up to absorb a sixth wave may not take into account the loss of staff members in isolation. “If nurses suddenly get sick or can’t go to work, that’s a big deal. A bed is just a piece of furniture. “You can have the beds, but if you do not have the staff to take care of the people in those beds, it is only a mattress,” he said.
