Hospital operating extra 30 beds at Memorial site

A facility to care for Sudbury's burgeoning population of alternate level of care (ALC) patients has been running at Memorial Hospital since early this year. It is slated to close in April 2011.

The facility is currently funded by the North East Local Health Integration Network (NE LHIN) for 100 patients, but Sudbury Regional Hospital has decided to place an extra 30 patients at the facility.

Dave McNeil, the hospital's vice-president of clinical programs and chief nursing officer, said the NE LHIN has made it clear they are only funding 100 beds at the facility, “and that's where we are to operate.”

However, the hospital is balancing the financial risk of operating beds it doesn't have funding for at with the risk to the public of having too many ALC patients in the main hospital facility, he said.

There are currently 56 ALC patients being cared for in acute care beds at Sudbury Regional Hospital.

McNeil said the extra 30 beds being operated at Memorial are putting the hospital's plans to balance its budget next year in jeopardy.

Viviane Lapointe, a spokesperson for the hospital, said the institution has been keeping the NE LHIN informed of the hospital's “ALC status” at both the acute care site and the Memorial facility.

“The NE LHIN understands the hospital's need to fulfill its acute care mandate, including its regional referral role for the entire northeast,” she said.

“The decision to operate 30 additional beds at the Memorial transitional site was made in order to preserve these acute care mandates.”