Thursday, January 20, 2022
The fifth wave of COVID-19 is impacting hospitals across Ontario. And it’s no different at HSN. From January 1st to January 19th, HSN admitted and provided care to a total of 119 patients for COVID-19.
During the week of January 16th, HSN had up to 59 patients admitted with COVID-19, more than twice the peak HSN had in 2020 or 2021. As of January 20th, HSN has 190 employees and medical staff who are off due to testing positive for COVID-19 or for being a high risk contact. This represents about 4% of HSN teams. Meanwhile, HSN continues to take steps to maintain its critical and acute care services. More than 130 staff have been redeployed to other areas of the hospital so HSN can continue to take care of the sickest patients, with many of these staff coming from approximately 35 outpatient services.
This redeployment is important. We know this creates delays and even postponement of appointments in some of our outpatient clinics and diagnostic testing areas.
It may take longer for new referrals to be seen at their first appointment. Our existing clients are to attend their booked appointment unless contacted by the service with a change in schedule or postponement of appointments. We greatly appreciate our staff and physicians for their continued efforts in caring for our patients. And we sincerely thank our patients and families for their understanding and patience in the event their outpatient appointments are impacted over the coming weeks as we respond to the very worst of this pandemic to date.