Expect a slowdown, not shutdown, in N.S. hospitals if COVID cases rise

Hospitals in Nova Scotia will see a slowdown in services instead of a full shutdown as the province's health authority takes a different approach to the second wave of COVID-19.

But Nova Scotia Health warned Wednesday that restrictions and other changes could happen without warning because of the speed in which the coronavirus is spreading through communities.

"In the last few days, there's been a rapid change in the sense of what we've been seeing in the community and we want to make sure we're responding rapidly as well," said Colin Stevenson, vice-president of quality and system performance with Nova Scotia Health.

"Really, it comes down to ensuring that we are delivering services in a safe environment."

Visitor restrictions

The health authority'snew strategy kicked into gear last weekwhen visitors were banned from hospitals in the Central Zone, with some exceptions. That zone has seen a huge jump in positive COVID cases in recent weeks, with 102 active cases as of Wednesday.

Those rules for visitors were expanded Wednesday to include theColchester East Hants Health Centre in Truro and the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow. Some families criticized the changes, saying there was no warning.

Stevenson said there's no benchmarkor number of COVIDcasesthat willtrigger the next steps of the plan. Itwill depend on a number of factors,including locationand the level of care needed by those who are sick.

"We have not, at this point, started to look at any service reductions," he said. "If we do see demand on service within our acute-care setting start to increase, then we would need to start to consider a reduction in services that would allow us to redeploy fast and or create space for COVID admissions."

Most restrictions affect only HRM

If service reductions are needed, Stevenson said they will be in hotspot areas such as the Halifax Regional Municipality, not provincewide.

"A lot of the interventions that are in place with the Central Zone don't apply to the rest of the province," he said.

"I think we've learned a lot from our first-wave experience."

The next area that may see changes is in ambulatory care, which includes appointments within the hospital system or day procedures. People may have their appointments changed from in-person to virtual or by phone, said Stevenson.

One issue flagged repeatedly by staff has been the number of long-term care patients in hospital bedswaiting to be moved to long-term care homes.

If COVID-19 spreads into a long-term care home, patients will be moved to a regional unit, instead of keeping them in each individual facility.

In the Halifax area, those patients will be moved to Ocean View Continuing Care Centre in Dartmouth.

Stevenson said while people may be upset with the changes, including the visitation rules, they're necessary to try to prevent more casesand keep COVIDnumbers low.

"We absolutely need to find the balance of ensuring that caregivers are there to support the people that need it," he said.

"We want to make sure that we're not bringing COVIDinto our facilities and creating that greater risk and greater harm."

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