By Liam Casey in Toronto
The head of Ontario's critical care COVID-19 command centre has asked hospitals that treat adults to accept children 14 and older in need of intensive care in an effort to relieve pressure on the province's pediatric hospitals.
Surgeries may need to be cancelled as a result, Dr. Andrew Baker wrote to hospital CEOs in a memo obtained by The Canadian Press.
Baker said the moves are being made due to the "current and impending surge in pediatric critical care demand."
!-- Begin Constant Contact Inline Form Code -->"It is anticipated that the next 2-3 months will bring significantly increased demands for pediatric critical care support that will be sustained and characterized by unplanned surges that may occur with very short lead time," Baker wrote in the Wednesday memo.
Baker also asked hospitals to maximize intensive care capacity to help relieve the burdens on emergency departments.
"The Ontario Critical Care COVID-19 Command Centre is requesting that people aged 14 and over requiring critical care (in the context of a directive or not) are managed in adult critical care beds," Baker wrote. "There may be some exceptions to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis."
The Minister of Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There are 107 children in critical care across the province, only four with COVID-19.
Baker wants hospitals to "proactively create and sustain additional capacity in adult critical care."
He also wants hospitals to "be available to respond within 24 hours to directives" from the command centre.
"We anticipate that (the request) may require hospitals to manage their resources and may result in the need to ramp down surgical/procedural volumes," Baker wrote.
Baker said the requests are temporary and correspond with the "predicted surge period" and will be reviewed every two weeks.
Banner image: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 3, 2022.
