Ontario hospitals asked to treat kids 14+ who need ICU care as pressures mount on pediatric hospitals – CBC

Surgeries may also need to be cancelled as a result, memo from official reads

Nov 03, 2022

The head of Ontario’s critical care COVID-19 command centre has asked the province’s hospitals that treat adults to also accept children 14 and older in need of intensive care to relieve pressure on pediatric hospitals.

Surgeries may need to be cancelled as a result, Dr. Andrew Baker wrote to hospital CEOs in a memo.

Baker said the moves are being made due to the “current and impending surge in pediatric critical care demand.”

“It is anticipated that the next two to three 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.

At Toronto’s SickKids Hospital, president and CEO Dr. Ronald Cohn says there’s already an unprecedented number of children arriving at the emergency room, some who need to be admitted to regular wards and others who need intensive care.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-pediatric-hospitals-update-1.6639129