From 113 per cent down to 107 per cent, that's where Health Sciences North finds itself today.
Although the overcapacity has eased slightly in recent days, there are still nearly 80 beds being taken up by people who shouldn't be in the hospital, and HSN is still advising people to avoid the Emergency Department for non-emergency issues.
And a hospital spokesperson told Sudbury.com today that HSN is expecting occupancy rates to spike over the long weekend.
"We ... expect our numbers to increase over the coming day as history shows long weekends are when the Emergency Department is at its busiest," Jason Turnbull said today.
The hospital was pushed to cancelling elective and non-urgent surgeries last week, and was taking extraodinary measures to avoid issuing a Code Orange, an alert that triggers an emergency response to an external disaster that taxes a hospital’s bed capacity and resources.
As recently as last Friday, Health Sciences North saw their number of alternative level care (ALC) patients jump into the 90s, but that number has dipped back down to 78 as of May 17, Turnbull said.
"Things have kind of settled back down here," said Turnbull. "There was really no magic reason for the spike in numbers, it's something we usually see during flu season, but no one can really figure out the spike."
Those ALC patients, many of them frail elderly people, are only in hospital because Greater Sudbury — like communities across Ontario — lacks enough long-term care and nursing home capacity.
Earlier this week, it appeared imminent that more surgeries would be cancelled, after 12 were cancelled between May 9 and 10. Turnbull confirmed on Friday that the hospital did not have to cancel a single surgery this week.
NDP leader Andrea Horwath took Premier Doug Ford to task during question period on Thursday, pointing to Health Sciences North's struggles with overcrowding.
“For over a week now, the Sudbury hospital, Health Sciences North, has been struggling with a serious overcapacity challenge,” said Horwath. “Last weekend the hospital cancelled six surgeries and took the step of urging the public to expect longer wait times and more hallway medicine — patients being treated in hallways, closets and bathrooms.
“They now say they are on the verge of declaring a Code Orange. The problems of hallway medicine are getting worse under Doug Ford’s watch.”
A Code Orange is called to deal with external or community disasters such as accidents with mass casualties, chemical or oil spills or other incidents that could cause an influx of patients.
For instance, a Code Orange was called April 23, 2018 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre after the terrorist van attack in Toronto that killed 10 people and seriously injured many more.
HSN chief of staff Dr. John Fenton did issue what he called a "pre-Code Orange" memo, advising the hospital’s professional staff that HSN was diverting patients from other communities who are “non-life and limb threatening cases” to hospitals closer to them and not to HSN.
The only Code Orange issued in recent memory in Sudbury was in June 2007 when a fire at the former St. Joseph’s Health Centre disrupted electrical power and closed the city’s only emergency department.
While the hospital is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel and are not currenlty at critical mass as they were at this time a week ago, Turnbull says they are still advising anyone with non-urgent ailments to avoid the emergency room and seek other treatment options such as walk-in clinics or Telehealth Ontario, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
