One of Hamilton’s major hospitals is shifting its capacity planning to make room for more beds by cohorting coronavirus patients into a single ward.
Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) says with the curve flattening in the city and fewer COVID-19 patients expected to be admitted to Hamilton hospitals, staff are now adjusting bed capacity to increase clinical activity in departments such as emergency department and intensive care units.
Dr. Wes Stephen, EVP clinical operations and COO of HHS, says the decision is actually coming from the province and bed capacity guidelines set by Ontario Health. “In our capacity planning, we actually did divide, develop excessive capacity, recognizing that we don’t need all that at this point in time,” said