Mississauga Hospital‘s paediatric unit inpatient care is now being delivered at Credit Valley Hospital due to staffing challenges and a surge in patients, the hospital system says.
In a statement emailed to Global News on Friday, Keeley Rogers, a spokesperson for Trillium Health Partners, said the health-care system is “feeling the strain of an increased number of children who are sick and require hospitalization.”
“Due to these pressures and ongoing province-wide staffing challenges, the Paediatric Unit at Mississauga Hospital has been temporarily consolidated with Credit Valley Hospital (CVH) and all care for our inpatient paediatric patients is now being delivered at CVH,” the statement read.
Rogers said the “by working together” on one site, clinical teams have been able to keep the same number of beds open to support children and families.
“We want to assure you that this has not decreased access to high quality care in our community and region,” Rogers said, adding that the emergency department at Mississauga Hospital remains open to paediatric patients.
According to Rogers, if admission is required, arrangements for a transfer to CVH “will be made.”
Rogers said THP will “continue to reassess our space to ensure we are maximizing all available bed spaces within our hospitals, actively recruit new staff, and introduce additional clinics and resources to support children in our community.”
The news comes as several hospitals in Ontario struggle amid a surge of paediatric patients requiring care at the beginning of respiratory virus season.
Earlier this week, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa announced it had opened a second intensive care unit due to the volume of patients.
What’s more, data obtained by Global News suggests the number of children requiring intensive care in Ontario’s hospitals has outpaced the available number of paediatric hospital beds.
The data compiled by Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO) recorded 122 patients who required a pediatric critical care bed on Nov. 9, at a time when Ontario has 112 pediatric ICU beds available province-wide, an occupancy rate of 108.9 per cent.
-with files from Global News’ Colin D’Mello
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