NEWS RELEASE

April 4, 2011

Changes at Hamilton Health Sciences enhance care, improve system sustainability

HAMILTON – Today at 8 a.m., Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is making some important changes in its services and programs.

  • The Emergency Department at McMaster University Medical Centre will change into a children’s-only service, treating teenagers and children ages 17 and under – no adults. Adults can continue to use the city’s other Emergency Departments at the Juravinski Hospital, Hamilton General Hospital and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.
  • Also at 8 a.m., HHS is opening a new Urgent Care Centre (UCC) at 690 Main Street West, near the 403. Its staff of specialized physicians and nurses will care for patients of all ages who have non-life-threatening illnesses or injuries. Like St. Joseph’s Urgent Care Centre in east Hamilton, which also cares for patients of all ages, this UCC is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
  • Over a seven-hour period starting at 8 a.m. today, 96 adult inpatient beds at McMaster University Medical Centre will be transferred to the Juravinski Hospital (42 beds), Hamilton General Hospital (27 beds), and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (28 beds).

“These changes will enable us to better coordinate our services across the city,” said HHS President and CEO, Murray Martin. “By doing so, we will also be able to enhance patient care with the further development of centres of excellence. This will translate into improved access to leading-edge hospital services now, and in the future.”

Almost three years of consultation has gone into the development of this realignment plan which is called Access to the Best Care (ABC). Hamilton Health Sciences has worked closely with many partners in the health care system including St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network, the HNHB Community Care Access Centre, and McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, to name just a few.

“Changes like this require a great deal of collaboration and hard work,” said Brenda Flaherty, Executive Vice President, Clinical Operations at Hamilton Health Sciences. “We have been extremely appreciative of everyone’s contributions. From front-line caregivers to physicians and administrative leaders, we all share a strong commitment to meeting and exceeding the expectations of our patients and the community. They want timely, high quality care – that is what ABC is all about.”

“Hospitals in Hamilton have a long tradition of working together to focus our programs and best serve our community,” said Dr. David Higgins, President of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. “We are glad to take on additional beds and patient care activity with ABC, and we value our close partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences.”

“Hamilton Health Sciences and the other health care organizations across our LHIN are demonstrating leadership and vision by making changes that will enhance the already high standard of care they provide to our citizens,” said Donna Cripps, CEO of the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network. “People from across our LHIN and beyond will be able to continue to rely on Hamilton hospitals to provide great care for years to come.”

Today’s emergency and urgent care changes have been widely publicized through an extensive education and marketing campaign. One of the most important messages, especially for residents on the west side of Hamilton, is that 40 per cent of all illnesses and injuries can be more effectively cared for in an urgent care centre rather than an emergency department. The Main Street West Urgent Care Centre will see and treat patients within approximately two hours.

Another key message of the education campaign is that the best thing to do in an emergency is to call 911. Paramedics provide care immediately and take patients to the emergency department that best suits the patient’sneeds. For example, if the patient is having chest pains or symptoms of a stroke, he or she will be taken to Hamilton General Hospital, the region’s referral centre for advanced cardiac and vascular care.

McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) is also a regional referral centre, serving a population of 600,000 children and adolescents across south central Ontario. Hamilton is one of the last cities of its size in Canada to have a dedicated children’s emergency department.

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Contact:

Heather PullenDebbie Silva

Public Relations & CommunicationsPublic Affairs

Hamilton Health SciencesSt. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton

Telephone: (905) 521-2100, ext. 75387Telephone: (905) 522-1155, ext. 33037

E-mail: -mail:

Paging: (905) 521-5030

Trish Nelson
Communications

Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network
Telephone: (905) 945-4930ext. 4255
or 1-866-363-5446
E-mail:

Hamilton Health Sciences ABC Move Day – April 4, 2011

Fast Facts

  • 96 – Inpatient beds transferring from MUMC to other sites (Juravinski Hospital, Hamilton General Hospital, St, Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton)
  • 65 – Patients being transferred from MUMC to other sites (Juravinski Hospital, Hamilton General Hospital, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton)
  • 19 – Transport vehicles moving patients
  • 4 – Estimated minutes between patient transports
  • 15 – Teams of staff (ranging between 4 and 14 people) helping to transfer patients
  • 2,000 – Pieces of equipment moving
  • 19 – Physicians moving to different HHS hospitals
  • 59 – Staff moving to Hamilton General Hospital
  • 185 – Staff moving to Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre
  • 4 – Staff moving to new Urgent Care Centre
  • 19 – Staff moving to MUMC
  • 5 – Staff moving to St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
  • 2,202 – McMaster Children’s Hospital Pediatric Emergency Department visits in March 2011
  • 90% - Percentage of children in LHIN 4 requiring hospital services who are cared for at McMaster Children’s Hospital (LHIN 4 includes Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand, Brant)
  • 60% - Percentage of children in LHIN 3 requiring hospital services who are cared for at McMaster Children’s Hospital (LHIN 3 includes Waterloo, Wellington, Guelph)

Facts about the new Main Street West Urgent Care Centre

  • Located at 690 Main Street West Hamilton, at the corner of Main Street West and Macklin Street South, in the same building as the McMaster Family Practice
  • Open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, 365 days a year
  • Treats non-life-threatening issues that do not require emergency care but cannot wait for a scheduled appointment with a family doctor – examples: cuts and wounds requiring stitches, sprains, simple fractures, ear infections and fever
  • The goal of the Urgent Care Centre is to provide timely treatment with a quick turnaround time. The expectation is that patients will be seen and discharged quickly.
  • Walk-in service for all ages
  • Staffed by a team of physicians and nurses trained in emergency medicine
  • Equipped to perform diagnostic tests such as bloodwork, X-rays and ultrasounds
  • Ambulances do not bring patients to the Urgent Care Centre. Walk-in patients with life-threatening or serious illnesses and injuries will be stabilized and transported to an Emergency Department.

Facts about McMaster Children’s Hospital Emergency Department

  • Treats children 17 and under only
  • Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • Treats emergency, life-threatening and non-life-threatening illnesses or injuries (of children only) including: difficulty breathing, fevers, broken bones, traumas or injuries to the head, severe abdominal pain, cuts or wounds that may require stitches, asthma attacks, ear infections.
  • Receives ambulances and walk-in patients
  • An adult showing up at McMaster Children’s Hospital Emergency Department in error will be stabilized and redirected to another Emergency Department or Urgent Care Centre in the city.
  • When the $10 million of the McMaster Children’s Hospital Emergency Department is complete in the spring of 2012, it will provide:

A spacious Fast Track area that will serve children with less serious issues such as minor cuts and fractures, in a timely manner

State-of-the-art trauma treatment rooms with highly specialized equipment and technology to support children who are seriously injured

A special procedure area that will allow for children to be sedated before undergoing painful procedures

A new Pediatric Clinical Decision Unit where children who need to be treated in the Emergency Department for several hours can be cared for comfortably

More than double the space of today

Separate patient walk-in and ambulance entrances to shelter children from patients with severe issues

Special consideration to the interior environment below the three-foot level to enhance the views and involvement of young children and those in wheelchairs

Larger treatment rooms to allow for family care at the bedside

A variety of child-specific distractions such as access to DVDs and games individually selected by patients

Eight specialists in pediatric emergency medicine have been recruited from around the world to work in the new children’s emergency department.

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