Ontario asks family medical clinics to work nights, weekends to help overwhelmed hospitals – CBC

Province says extended hours at family clinics will help avoid unnecessary visits to hospitals

Nov 23, 2022

Ontario has asked thousands of family health-care workers to work evenings and weekends to help ease the burden on overwhelmed children’s hospitals, a government memo obtained by The Canadian Press shows.

Nadia Surani, the director of the primary health care branch in the Ministry of Health, said in the note to family health teams that the “difficult and complex” respiratory illness surge predicted by health-care workers has materialized.

The flu, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19 are circulating in all parts of the province, Surani wrote in the memo sent Monday.

“This scenario is contributing to pressures on our health-care system, particularly in the pediatric sector, and we are expecting high-volume pressures across our health system now and through the winter,” Surani wrote.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-health-care-evenings-weekends-1.6661611