The length of time between when patients register at Sault Area Hospital and are seen by a doctor - while still long - has improved lately, SAH says.
“There has been significant improvement over the past three months, with wait times consistently below the five-hour goal,” said Johanne Messier-Mann, SAH Quality Committee chair in a report to the hospital’s board of directors Monday.
“The addition of 16 hours of daily physician coverage, funded by the Ministry of Health, has made a notable impact,” the report states.
The hospital has secured a six-month extension for that additional funding with assessments continuing every six months.
"The funding equates to approximately eight hours of additional physician coverage daily; however, the additional physician coverage is scheduled based on patient care demands in the department rather than a set schedule of specific coverage. Sault Area Hospital (SAH) has received additional funding through the Temporary Locum Program. This means that the hospital is utilizing temporary funding to extend the hours of existing physicians to address patient care needs. The additional coverage is being scheduled based on the patient care demands in the Emergency Department, allowing for flexibility in response to fluctuating needs. It is important to note that this is a temporary solution to help meet the community's current needs," wrote Brandy Sharp Young, SAH spokesperson in an email to SooToday.
Any funding for health care at SAH would be appreciated as Ila Watson, SAH president and CEO, told the board that nothing has changed since September when she announced the hospital foresees a deficit of $20 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“We still are expecting a deficit in excess of $20 million. This could change if we get news of additional funding. We are of the understanding with Ontario Health that we might have some further news in November which would likely be specific to what funding we may be getting, but nothing is confirmed yet so we’re continuing to work with those challenges,” Watson told the board.
In other news presented at Wednesday’s meeting, the board was told patients are not waiting as long to be offloaded from ambulances.
"Ambulance offload 90th percentile times have improved significantly. As of August 2024, the year-to-date result is 60.8 minutes, which is below the target of 70.0 minutes. In comparison, the 2023-2024 results were 75.7 minutes. This reduction in ambulance offload times indicates a notable improvement, allowing us to better serve our community and ensure that patients receive timely care when they need it most," Sharp Young wrote.
Sue Roger, SAH vice president and chief nursing executive, told the board “there’s been marked improvement since a dedicated offload nurse (was added to the emergency department team).”