With no end to a shortage of beds in sight, Guelph General Hospital recently installed four curtained-off privacy areas for patients in the hallways of its emergency department.
Accommodating patients in hallways is something the hospital now has to do on a regular basis, said Marianne Walker, president and CEO of Guelph General Hospital (GGH).
“In the past week we didn’t have13 places to put people in beds,” said Walker. “What happens is seven, on average, were held in (the Emergency Department) and then the others we had to put in unconventional spaces like hallways — which we don’t like to do.”
So-called ‘hallway medicine’ has been a reality at GGH for some time and is due mostly to Guelph’s increase in population, as well as its ageing population.
Walker notes census data that showed Guelph grew in population by 8.3 per cent between 2011 to 2016, almost double the provincial average.
Guelph is projected to continue growing in the next two decades and Walker said hospital funding is not keeping up.
“We are one of the fastest growing and now we are feeling it,” she said of Guelph's population.
The Emergency Department at GGH was built to accommodate about 40,000 visits a year. Walker said the hospital is currently averaging about 64,000.
“Our space is already too small and we really have to get our patients upstairs on to the units — which is better care for them, also.”
On average, the hospital has an average of 22 more patients in hospital than it did three years ago.
Walker acknowledges the new hallway privacy areas are not an ideal solution.
“It doesn’t allow for that full privacy and that positive experience for the patient,” she said. “We don’t think that is the best for our patients’ experience, however to accommodate the patients still coming into emerg, that is something we have to do on a regular basis now.”
“Despite that, our staff still provides excellent care and I still hear that from patients in the hallways telling us they don’t like the hallways but the care is still very good — excellent,” she added.
In 2018, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care allowed GGH to make preliminary plans to expand the emergency department.
Walker said GGH is working with the ministry trying to keep the project moving forward.
“We know that hospital funding has not kept up with inflation and the ageing population growth,” she said.
In an emailed statement sent to GuelphToday on Wednesday, David Jensen, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, said the provincial government is investing $384 million in our hospital sector, plus an additional $68 million to support small-and-medium-sized hospitals.
"This means $1.14 million in additional funding for Guelph General Hospital," said Jensen. "The government is committed to supporting an efficient and stable hospital system. This investment is another example of how Ontario is supporting high-quality and timely access to care."
He added that the provincial government has a comprehensive plan to end hallway health care, which includes making investments and advancing new initiatives.
In October, GGH asked Guelph City Council for $4.5-million over five years for the project, which was approved in the city's most recent budget.
“Increasing the size of our Emergency Department will really go a long way so that the staff can appropriately care for patients in the right spot, because right now the patients are in the hallways in our Emergency Department and that’s not the best way to provide care,” said Walker.