McMaster Children’s Hospital to reduce inpatient surgeries to cope with ‘unprecedented pressures’

McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) is taking serious measures to cope with what it describes as “unprecedented pressures” across all of its programs.

In a memo to staff, it has been revealed that the hospital will only be admitting one pediatric surgical case per day that requires inpatient care.

This will start on Nov. 4 and last for four weeks, and the memo said the hospital will be using an ethical framework to decide which cases will be prioritized.

“Inpatient occupancy is nearing 135 per cent, and critical care and the emergency department are also facing extreme challenges,” reads the memo from hospital president Bruce Squires and Dr. Anthony Crocco, acting chief of pediatrics.

The memo also mentioned “ongoing staffing issues” as creating difficulties for teams at MCH.

Wherever possible, the hospital will be focusing on admitting surgical cases that can be sent home the same day.

Other measures that are being implemented include:

• Continued use of standby/callback models for registered nurses and registered respiratory therapists on units at a crisis staffing level.
• Increased general pediatrician coverage on inpatient pediatric units.
• Asking for volunteers from across MCH programs and from other Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) sites to assist teams at MCH.
• Examining the transfer of youth/adolescents to other HHS sites where medically feasible and where staffing permits.

The memo said the hospital will be monitoring bed pressures and reassessing its plan to allow more inpatient surgeries when possible and that leadership at the hospital system is regularly in contact with government officials “to advocate for strategies to ensure safe and timely access to care for all children and youth.”

“These actions – including the very difficult decision to make further reductions in our surgical activity at a time when we have such significant concern about delays in care for children & youth – are only being taken because of the very extreme situation in which we find ourselves,” Squires and Crocco said in the memo.

“We recognize the distress such difficult decisions cause for all members of our teams and for the patients and families we serve.”