Healthcare System Recovery in a Post-Pandemic World

This week our regular public health update from the Province turns its attention to addressing the recovery of the health system and tackling the backlog that has formed due to COVID-19 patients requiring a significant portion of the health system resources. ICU and hospital admissions have continued to trend downward, so Manitoba is still on track to remove the proof of vaccination requirement on March 1 and remove remaining health orders and mask mandates on March 15, moving to recommendations instead of requirements. March 1 will also see the removal of the requirement for vaccination or regular testing for direct care workers and designated public sector employees.

Individual businesses and facilities may still elect to keep some requirements in place so the vaccination card and verification app will remain available. Visitors to healthcare facilities can also expect to still see requirements for masking or physical distancing as the facilities try to balance the need to prevent the spread of covid within their vulnerable populations with the importance of personal interactions to positive healthcare outcomes.

More than 500 healthcare workers have been redeployed during the pandemic, so the challenge before the Province now is how to return them to their former duties in an incremental fashion as the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital and ICU decreases. The plan they’re working on is intended to be reversible, with the ability to change course and scale up COVID-19 services again if it becomes necessary.

“While hospitals remain busy and hundreds of healthcare workers continue to be deployed to support COVID-19 activity, we’re seeing a significant improvement in a number of key areas,” says Dr. David Matear,  co-lead of Unified Health Sector Incident Command. “We’re mindful that as public health orders loosen, we may see a slight increase in Covid activity and patients needing our care. For the immediate future, the health systems' focus will be on both maintaining capacity and supporting recovery.”

During the pandemic the number of ICU beds increased to 124 from 72. While it won’t remain at that level once it’s no longer necessary, Matear also says that the baseline number will end up greater than the original 72. Surgeries, diagnostic services, and outpatient services all saw cancellations and delays over the past two years. One of the challenges is to prioritise those long-delayed surgeries and the healthcare facilities that will be able to offer them.

The priority for the teams, including the Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force which is expected to have an update in early March, is to resume the right services in the right order.