Windsor Regional Hospital launching new Paediatric Diversion Program
By Rob Hindi
A new service is launching this weekend at Windsor Regional Hospital for paediatric patients.
The hospital is introducing the "Paediatric Diversion Program" which looks to assist paediatric patients who attend the Emergency Departments during certain time periods to receive more timely care.
It's for patients under the age of 17 triaged in the Emergency Department who meet specific clinical criteria.
The service will be operated by a paediatric speciality team and will be available on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Met Campus.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, hospital president and CEO David Musyj says the hospital had a Paediatric Urgent Medical Assessment (PUMA) clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Starting this Friday between the hours of 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. a paediatric patient who comes to the Metropolitan Campus and to be seen who doesn't need "emergency care" in the sense of a broken arm, or stitches will be seen quickly and taken to the paediatric floor similar to what we do with pregnant moms," says Musyj.
He says the service is looking at the demand 'now.'
"We focused on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights because that's where demand is the greatest, community access is very limited between the hours of 3 and 11 recognizing at this time of the year as school gets back, forget about COVID for a minute just the normal transmission of all sorts of other things parents need a place for kids to go," he says.
Musyj adds the hospital is looking to reduce the time paediatric patients spend in the Emergency Department.
"Are we the perfect spot for this, no, no technically we shouldn't be doing this but again similar to other things we're doing, we're trying to fill a void in working with the government to fill a void and we're trying to help," says Musyj. "But these are patients technically shouldn't be coming to the emergency department but again they have no where else to go, so we're helping out."
Ontario Health is providing the funding for the service.
The hospital says it saw roughly 95,000 Emergency Department visits between April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 with with approximately 10,000 to 12,000 of those being paediatric patients.