How many times have hospitals in the Finger Lakes had to divert patients?

Last week Rochester General Hospital made headlines when its emergency department was forced to go on diversion. This means it had to turn away non-life threatening situations.

It was temporary, and within hours of the initial call to begin diverting patients, they had resumed accepting them. But the issue elevated concerns, after reports in November and December that F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua had also done the same thing at different points due to staffing issues.

News10NBC compiled data on hospitals in the Finger Lakes to answer the question: How many times have area hospitals moved into ‘diversion protocol’ over the last two months?

The answer is more often than many would have assumed.

Their data shows that both Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua, and Clifton Springs Hospital diverted patients on five different occasions. At Newark-Wayne Community Hospital patients were diverted seven times.

“The stress is partly because of insufficient staffing or lower than ideal staffing and so, patients sit in chairs in hallways, they are in stretchers in hallways,” Dr. Robert Mayo told News10NBC.

Another major problem? Lack of available COVID tests. Around 33% of people showing up to the emergency room are there for a COVID-19 PCR test.

Staff Report

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