Current surgical wait list contains 3,000 patients

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Windsor Regional Hospital officials are hoping an early peak in the influenza and RSV season will help them reduce the waiting list for surgery this spring.

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The flu/RSV epidemic peaked in December and quickly subsided while COVID-19 did not quite reach feared levels after the Christmas holidays.

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“The good thing is that influenza and RSV went down dramatically in January,” said the hospital’s CEO, David Musyj. “It didn’t hold itself as we’ve seen before.

“Hospitalizations at some point due to COVID have stabilized. It is something that will not go away and will always be there.”

Although the hospital has opened 60 more beds to accommodate the pressure of the triple virus threat, bed occupancy at the metropolitan campus stands at 106 percent, while the Ouellette site is at 103 percent.

Demand is fueled by the surge in admissions for those visiting the ER compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

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“Our volume of visits to the emergency room is about the same as it was before the pandemic, but five percent more patients are admitted and are staying longer,” Musyj said.

“The average length of stay used to be six days, now it is eight. The average acceptance rate was 15 percent and now it’s 20 percent.”

Musyj said a key reason for the overcapacity is that the hospital is trying to catch up on surgeries that have been delayed by the pandemic.

“Our entire waiting list currently includes around 3,000 patients,” said Musyj. “At its peak it was 6,000.

“Right now it’s a little lower than before the pandemic. We don’t want it there. We want to get the 3,000 into the 10s, not even the hundreds.”

Officials at Windsor Hospital are hoping the worst of the flu season will be over soon. Hospital Patients Arrive Sicker and Stay Longer: CEO

Musyj hopes that with the easing of the virus season in the area, the hospital can make a dent in its waiting list. His hopes of meeting that goal were buoyed by the provincial government, which indicated that it intends to continue funding the additional 60 beds beyond the fiscal year ending March 31.

“One of the things that saves us is that our volume of alternative long-term patients is at an all-time low,” Musyj said.

“Patient flow has improved since the government made these changes. We didn’t even collect one of those $400 letters (for patients who refuse to vacate a hospital bed for alternative treatment options).”

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