Leamington hospital needs millions in unfunded costs to tackle overcapacity

Leamington’s hospital has been operating over capacity and officials are asking for an admission discharge unit. CTV Windsor’s Sanjay Maru reports.

Erie Shores Healthcare officials are asking Essex County Council for financial support tonight as the hospital faces increasing patient volumes and operates far beyond capacity.

The hospital’s Admission Discharge Unit (ADU), a pilot project launched last year to improve patient flow, remains unfunded at a cost of $2.2 million.

For nearly three-quarters of the past year, the hospital operated at more than 120 per cent occupancy, with some weeks reaching as high as 170 per cent, ESHC officials said.

“Increased occupancy leads to increased wait times in emerge,” said Rashoo Brar, ESHC’s vice president of operations.

“They are taking a little longer to be seen because we want to ensure the patients who are admitted get to the right bed at the right time. That’s where we have a stopgap.”

To help manage the pressure, Erie Shores launched the ADU, which has helped speed up patient transfers, reduce hospital bottlenecks, and free up ER beds as much as seven hours earlier.

But the program remains without dedicated funding.

Erie Shores is now appealing to Essex County Council to help cover the cost — not just to sustain the program, but to support a hospital that serves a large region.

“Patients from Amherstburg, LaSalle, Lakeshore,” Brar said. “Add to it, at any given point of time at Erie Shores, we are taking EMS diversion from Windsor. This all compiled together adds to our increased occupancy.”

EMS calls to Erie Shores Healthcare have surged by 32 per cent compared to 2023, and emergency department admissions to the Leamington hospital have increased by 34 per cent.

Alongside the request for ADU funding, the hospital is grappling with rising operational costs, including a $1.7 million need to convert rehab beds into acute care spaces.

The challenge isn’t just space. It’s also staffing.

In recent years, ESHC has increased its workforce by 23 per cent to manage the demand, but according to documents being presented Wednesday evening to Essex County Council, burnout remains a concern.

The Ontario Health Coalition says that’s an issue being felt across Ontario hospitals.

“It means they have to cover more shifts because they’re short every shift,” said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition.

“It means every time they’re off, they get called in to cover”

Mehra said Ontario funds hospitals at the lowest rate in Canada, leaving hospitals like Erie Shores to operate under extreme pressure.

“To have a hospital even running at 100 per cent capacity would be an absolute crisis,” she said. “120 per cent is unheard of. No country in the developed world runs their hospitals this way. It’s unacceptable.”

For now, Erie Shores is funding the ADU on its own, but Brar said continued operation depends on securing external financial support.

“With the ADU’s help, we have improved our patient flow,” Brar said. “Without it, we would not have been able to manage our community’s needs.”