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COVID-19: Peterborough Regional Health Centre ‘serious but stable’ as patient transfers increase

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Flying Eze
April 28, 2021

Peterborough Regional Health Centre says it has received 16 patient transfers from the Greater Toronto Area over the past week.

In a media briefing Wednesday morning, Dr. Lynn Mikula, the hospital’s chief medical executive and chief of staff, reports there have been 38 patient transfers from the GTA to date in April, bringing the total since Jan. 1 to 62.

Currently, she says there are 17 patients at the hospital who are positive with COVID-19. The hospital does not disclose how many are in an intensive care unit. Across Ontario hospitals there are currently 877 patients in an ICU, more than 100 patients more than a week ago, she noted.

“The situation at PRHC remains serious but stable as we continue to support the provincial surge,” she said.

Mikula noted new ICU cases tend to “lag behind” overall new cases by several weeks.

“When patients are admitted to critical care beds with COVID-19, they often remain in those beds for longer stretches of time — sometimes they spend several weeks or more in hospital,” she said. “As a result, the pressure on hospitals continues to build.”

Mikula says the hospital’s staffing levels and overtime hours have not been impacted as there has been some redeployment of staff to “pressure areas” due to the ramping down of non-urgent care and services.

She also noted the hospital has not needed to use the Evinrude Centre for additional patient space as part of its COVID-19 emergency response plans.

On Wednesday morning, the province announced it would begin allowing the transfer of hospital patients to long-term care homes without consent.

Mikula during the 11 a.m. conference call said she, too, had just received the information with “no forewarning” and said she will review the announcement.

“I’m sure it is motivated by the pressures in the hospital and the need to relieve them,” she said. “So we’ll work with our long-term care partners on how this gets implemented in our community.”

She says there has also been a reduction in emergency department visitations — a similar experience during the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Non-urgent surgeries and care resumed in June.

“We want to assure our community that PRHC continues to provide all life-saving services and care and our emergency department is operating as usual,” she said.