More surgeries cancelled at Windsor Regional Hospital as bed shortage continues

At least four surgeries were cancelled Thursday and front-line staff Windsor Regional Hospital are starting to feel the strain of overcrowding as a bed shortage continues, said the hospital's CEO.

Thirty-four patients were without beds Thursday morning, said David Musyj.

"We have physicians taking care of approximately 40 additional patients than they're usually used to taking care of," he explained. "When you have to run at that 110 or 120 per cent for three weeks running it puts a real strain on the system and a real strain on staff."

Musyj held a press conference Wednesday where he highlighteda "critical" shortage of beds caused by a spike in acutely ill patients at the beginning of 2017.

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Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzkywrote an open letter to the Minister of Health asking for assistance with the bed shortage in Windsor, pointing out that the current budget for the hospital is based on numbers from 2014-2015.

"It already puts the hospital financially behind, trying to balance a budget based on those numbers... we are now well over capacity," says Gretzky.

Lee Anne Cane, an admitting nurse at the Met campus of the WRH said she's been trying to keep patients from panicking.

"They're a little nervous about if their surgeries will be cancelled or not," she said.

The emergency room is currently "overflowing," said Cane who suggested one way people can help is by visiting family doctors and clinics first and only going to hospital as a last resort.

"They're so overloaded that the doctors and the nurses aren't getting time to care of the really elderly and the people that need to be taken care of," added Cane.

Hospital officials say patients may be moved to other hospitals in the region such asLeamingtonif there is no space, butanyone who needs to be admitted to the emergency department won't be turned away,