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A key piece in Ontario’s plan to reduce hospital overcrowding will fall into place Friday at Ottawa’s Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre with the launch of a 20-bed unit aimed at getting frail elderly patients out of hospital beds and into a more appropriate setting.
The first of its kind in Canada, the unit will provide medical care and allow extended recovery time for patients who would otherwise be occupying hospital beds. The unit essentially moves aspects of the acute care hospital to the long-term care home where specialized care and access to diagnostic equipment is available, as well as other programs to help patients recover. It will also open up acute care beds in the chronically overcapacity Ottawa Hospital.
The innovative partnership between The Ottawa Hospital and Perley and Rideau was part of a provincial announcement of 2,000 new hospital beds earlier this week, including more than 100 in Ottawa. But questions remain about whether those beds are really all that was promised.
The “surge beds” are only funded until the end of the fiscal year, although funding could be extended in next year’s budget. The money being offered per-patient per-day is less than hospitals currently receive for acute care patients, although it is not clear by how much.
A spokesman for the Ontario Hospital Association said the aim of the “patient day price” provided by the government is to “provide Ontarians with as many beds as possible … while at the same time ensuring that hospitals are not left in a deficit for this initiative.
“The focus is on patients who do not require an acute level of care,” said the Ontario Hospital Association spokesperson. “These patients are, for the most part, waiting for long-term or community based services and cost less than the average.”
The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, meanwhile, planned a rally at Montfort Hospital Friday to demand a more permanent response to hospital overcrowding.
“This is only a solution to get us through the flu season,” said council president Michael Hurley. “Patients and their families need much more than that.”
The Perley and Rideau unit is critical for helping to get the health care system “unstuck,” said Ottawa South MPP and parliamentary assistant to the minister of helath and long term care John Fraswer, “and make sure people receive the right care at the right place at the right time.”
Not only are alternate level of care — or ALC — patients a key factor in chronic overcrowding of hospitals in Ottawa and across the province, but long stays in hospital beds reduce the patients’ mobility and eventual recovery. Patients at Perley Rideau would have access to recreation and therapy as well as special medical care.
Fraser called the innovative unit exciting.
“One of the challenges is how do you get people into the most appropriate setting. For a frail elderly senior, a hospital bed is not necessarily the best place to be.”
In addition to opening up room in overcrowded hospitals, Fraser said the hope of the new unit is that it will help seniors recover so they can continue to live in independent settings once they are discharged.
Among the new “surge” beds aimed at opening spaces ahead of what is expected to be a bad flu season, The Ottawa Hospital received 45, Queensway Carleton Hospital received five and Montfort received five. Funding was also announced for 58 additional beds for the Champlain LHIN. It is unclear where they will go.
The number of hospital beds in Ontario has declined significantly since the 1990s — from more than 33,000 to over 18,000 in 2016. Many hospitals in the province, including in Ottawa, are chronically over 100 per cent capacity, even in the summer. In Ottawa, Queensway Carleton averaged 124 per cent in September. With flu season approaching — and predictions that it will be a bad one — concerns are growing about how already jammed hospitals will handle additional patients.
epayne@postmedia.com
查看原文...
The first of its kind in Canada, the unit will provide medical care and allow extended recovery time for patients who would otherwise be occupying hospital beds. The unit essentially moves aspects of the acute care hospital to the long-term care home where specialized care and access to diagnostic equipment is available, as well as other programs to help patients recover. It will also open up acute care beds in the chronically overcapacity Ottawa Hospital.
The innovative partnership between The Ottawa Hospital and Perley and Rideau was part of a provincial announcement of 2,000 new hospital beds earlier this week, including more than 100 in Ottawa. But questions remain about whether those beds are really all that was promised.
The “surge beds” are only funded until the end of the fiscal year, although funding could be extended in next year’s budget. The money being offered per-patient per-day is less than hospitals currently receive for acute care patients, although it is not clear by how much.
A spokesman for the Ontario Hospital Association said the aim of the “patient day price” provided by the government is to “provide Ontarians with as many beds as possible … while at the same time ensuring that hospitals are not left in a deficit for this initiative.
“The focus is on patients who do not require an acute level of care,” said the Ontario Hospital Association spokesperson. “These patients are, for the most part, waiting for long-term or community based services and cost less than the average.”
The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, meanwhile, planned a rally at Montfort Hospital Friday to demand a more permanent response to hospital overcrowding.
“This is only a solution to get us through the flu season,” said council president Michael Hurley. “Patients and their families need much more than that.”
The Perley and Rideau unit is critical for helping to get the health care system “unstuck,” said Ottawa South MPP and parliamentary assistant to the minister of helath and long term care John Fraswer, “and make sure people receive the right care at the right place at the right time.”
Not only are alternate level of care — or ALC — patients a key factor in chronic overcrowding of hospitals in Ottawa and across the province, but long stays in hospital beds reduce the patients’ mobility and eventual recovery. Patients at Perley Rideau would have access to recreation and therapy as well as special medical care.
Fraser called the innovative unit exciting.
“One of the challenges is how do you get people into the most appropriate setting. For a frail elderly senior, a hospital bed is not necessarily the best place to be.”
In addition to opening up room in overcrowded hospitals, Fraser said the hope of the new unit is that it will help seniors recover so they can continue to live in independent settings once they are discharged.
Among the new “surge” beds aimed at opening spaces ahead of what is expected to be a bad flu season, The Ottawa Hospital received 45, Queensway Carleton Hospital received five and Montfort received five. Funding was also announced for 58 additional beds for the Champlain LHIN. It is unclear where they will go.
The number of hospital beds in Ontario has declined significantly since the 1990s — from more than 33,000 to over 18,000 in 2016. Many hospitals in the province, including in Ottawa, are chronically over 100 per cent capacity, even in the summer. In Ottawa, Queensway Carleton averaged 124 per cent in September. With flu season approaching — and predictions that it will be a bad one — concerns are growing about how already jammed hospitals will handle additional patients.
epayne@postmedia.com
查看原文...
