Provincial Overcapacity Command Centre
Capacity Update
Improving capacity through Real Time Demand
Real Time Demand and Capacity (RTDC) work is underway in Saskatoon to assist in managing patient flow into and out of hospitals.
- How it works: RTDC is a set of principles and tools. It uses predicted demand (number of patients needing beds) and balances it with predicted capacity (number of beds available).
- How it’s used: RTDC is used at rounds (unit and system level) each morning to help plan system flow for the day and on units throughout the day to address barriers to patient discharges.
- How it improves capacity: By more closely matching capacity and demand, RTDC allows the acute and continuing care teams to determine key barriers causing flow delays.
- How it’s done in real time: It starts with an identified targeted discharge date for each patient and enhanced communication between patients, families and staff. It also utilizes tools like a predictability worksheet to document identified barriers and the plan to address them, so patients can be safely discharged on or near their targeted date of discharge.
Background
Saskatchewan’s tertiary care centres, which provide specialized care to the province, have been experiencing capacity challenges and the situation in Saskatoon has reached a critical stage. On October 31, 2019 the Saskatchewan Health Authority activated a Provincial Command Centre to prompt a response to the extreme overcapacity at Royal University Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
The Provincial Command Centre is a central source to improve patient flow across the province. The Command Centre team includes provincial leaders, staff and physicians from acute care, continuing care and primary health care, working closely together to address the extreme pressures in our health system while continuing to provide safe patient care.
What You Can Do
All staff and physicians are being requested to contribute to addressing this situation with the following actions:
- For community care teams, ensure that all community resources are being optimized to support patient care in and out of hospital.
- For long-term care teams, transition new residents into care as soon as possible, reduce emergency department visits through the use of community paramedicine, and actively but safely return residents who are receiving acute care services home.
- When looking to repatriate a patient:
- Look at the patient’s current care needs – not what you think may be available in a specific rural hospital.
- For assistance with repatriation, contact the Repatriation Coordinator at 306-260-8573.
- Report any delays in diagnostics to your local imaging or diagnostics manager.
- Be open to participate in process change development and to prioritize initiatives targeted to reducing capacity and creating long-term, sustainable solutions.
We appreciate that this is a difficult situation and we thank all of our employees and physicians for their hard work and dedication to keeping our patients safe.
- Email the following individuals to obtain authorization for any extraordinary costs required to support flow (e.g., EMS transport):
- Pam Molnar (Acute Care) at pam.molnar@saskhealthauthority.ca
- Graham Blue (Primary Health Care) at graham.blue@saskhealthauthority.ca
- Vanessa Ripley (Continuing Care) at vanessa.ripley@saskhealthauthority.ca
- To contact the Command Centre, call 306-655-1036. After hours, please follow the regular on-call process.
Command Centre Members
The following areas in Saskatoon have initially been identified as having an active role within the Command Centre:
- Quality and Safety
- Acute Care
- Physicians - Area Chiefs of Staff
- System Flow
- Primary Health Care
- Continuing Care
- Information Technology
- Human Resources
- Finance
- Communications
- Strategic Health Information and Performance
- Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
- Administrative Support