Patients treated in ambulance bays at overcrowded Juravinski Hospital

Ambulance bays were used to treat patients at Juravinski Hospital as overcrowding has peaked just ahead of a predicted wave of COVID cases from the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.

Hamilton's health-care system is so strained that 14 times in the last eight days there were one or no ambulances left to respond to calls, which is known as a Code Zero event.

It's a serious and unsustainable problem with dire consequences on ambulance response times and patient care," said Mario Posteraro, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 256.

Hospitals have had more patients than funded beds for the majority of the last two months, which creates a logjam through the entire system that is most visible in the emergency department.

It also causes cancellations as Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) already faces a backlog of 6,600 surgeries postponed due to the pandemic.

The overcrowding is occurring before a predicted surge of Omicron patients. Its severity isn't known yet, but the sheer volume of infections is expected to cause a spike in hospitalizations.

Even if it is less severe this could put significant strain on our health-care system," said Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson.

Fearing a shortage of health-care workers, the province has already created contingency plans that would allow those exposed to keep working, including daily testing.

I would ask all health-care workers who are eligible to get their booster shot," said Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore. It is more urgent than ever to come forward and get protected."

Data from Hamilton Paramedic Services shows high offload delays over the last week, peaking at 155 hours of ambulance time lost waiting in the emergency department in one 24-hour period alone that ended Tuesday at 7 a.m. It resulted in four Code Zero events.

Juravinski ambulance garage turned into a patient care treatment area," Chief Michael Sanderson said in a statement about that day. He added that it actually helped to free up vehicles."

Another bad 24-hour period was Dec. 11 at 7 a.m. to Dec. 12 at 7 a.m. when there were eight Code Zero events. Response times spiked with ambulances arriving within 14 minutes and 57 seconds for 90 per cent of all calls compared to 11 minutes and 18 seconds on average in 2019.

The reason for the overcrowding is COVID-related hospitalizations are again on the rise, and we are also experiencing increased demand for many hospital services," HHS said in a statement.

Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com