Durham’s health in the years ahead

By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express

For Lakeridge Health CEO Matt Anderson, 2017 was a year of both accomplishments and challenges.

“It’s been a very busy year,” Anderson stated while addressing hospital staff and foundation volunteers during the fourth annual Lakeridge Health President’s Brunch on May 24.

Lakeridge Health hospitals saw 206,000 emergency visits in 2017.

“More than half of those were in Oshawa,” Anderson says, with the exact figure at 113,000.

In comparison, Sunnybrook Hospital had around 65,000, and Toronto General Hospital had 35,000.

In addition, there were 51,000 surgeries performed and 346,314 clinic visits across Lakeridge Health’s hospitals in Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Bowmanville and Port Perry last year.

Anderson says he hopes to alleviate some of the pressure on emergency departments in the area.

He noted there are currently 68 patients in ER beds that should be in a long-term care facility and 28 patients that should be in the inpatient unit.

Earlier this year, it was announced Lakeridge would be receiving an additional $11.9 million in funding this year, and that money would be used to address “pressure points” on local emergency departments.

With opioid-related deaths and overdoses skyrocketing, Anderson says addictions is one of the biggest challenges facing Lakeridge this year and in the future, especially in Oshawa.

Looking ahead to the future, Anderson told those in attendance that while Durham’s population is growing at a similar rate to Peel and York regions, it is “generally speaking, a younger population.”

He explained the healthcare sector in those areas is already dealing with an aging population, but Durham is “at the front end of it.”

“We have to get ready for that,” he says.

Anderson also acknowledges that Durham’s hospitals are “generally quite undersized, not only for today but for the growth we are expecting over the next 25 years.”