THUNDER BAY — Staff in the Emergency Department at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre are working through the pressures of a larger patient volume than normal.
The hospital on Wednesday took the rare step of advising the community to be prepared for longer wait times as a result.
"All patients in the Emergency Department are triaged and treated according to the urgency of their needs," said Dr. Peter Voros, Vice-President of In-Patient Care Programs at the hospital.
"This means that those who need care the most receive it sooner, while those with less urgent needs may wait longer," Voros said.
The ED normally sees 275 to 300 patients a day on average, but is currently processing 340 to 350.
The hospital is also seeing an increasing number of admissions to beds through the emergency department, amounting to up to 60 per day.
Lisa Beck, Director of the ED, noted that this is traditionally the time of year when more people develop illnesses.
In an interview with Tbnewswatch, Beck was reluctant to speculate how long an individual with less severe symptoms might have to wait to be treated.
"The patients who are the sickest will get through first," she said.
Beck added that, based on the number of patients already in the waiting room, "there may be a longer delay for patients coming with a sore throat or flu symptoms...things that are ongoing or may be deemed lower-acuity than someone coming in with chest pain, for example."
She said the hospital has brought in extra staff to deal with the situation.
There's no sign that the flu or any other particular cause is responsible for the higher volume.
Beck said patients ranging from infants to the elderly are coming in with a variety of medical conditions.
The hospital's beds are virtually all occupied right now, resulting in the hospital declaring Surge Capacity status.
