Thunder Bay’s hospital says they continue to be plagued by gridlock because there isn’t enough capacity in the community.
Dr. Mark Henderson says the biggest issue contributing to the backlog continues to be that patients awaiting care elsewhere are currently occupying hospital beds. He says currently there are about 66 patients who should either be in a long term care bed, or at St. Joseph’s Care Group, but if you took away those 66 patients the hospital would be sitting very comfortably.
Henderson says the Northwest Local Authority is teaming up with St. Joseph’s to add extra capacity to the system, noting they’re looking at keeping one or two of the nursing homes that were scheduled to close in operation.
Henderson says once the Centre for Excellence for Integrated Seniors’ Services is open, that’ll also help alleviate a bit of the problem. (File photo)
