Northumberland Hills Hospital Hopes for ALC SOS
Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Budget and resource pressures on Northumberland Hills Hospital from alternative-level-of-care patients continue locally as they do at so many Ontario hospitals.
At the October board meeting, president and chief executive officer Linda Davis reported on the situation.
The Oct. 3 announcement of 6,000 new long-term-care beds throughout the province could help the situation – though it is not known yet what the announcement means specifically to NHH.
ALC is the shorthand term for alternative level of care. An ALC patient is one who has recovered from whatever acute health issue that put him or her into the hospital, but cannot be discharged because he or she is not yet well enough to be discharged to live independently at home. In many cases, a long-term-care bed on an interim basis could allow the hospital to free up the ALC bed for someone else who may need it.
This becomes a stronger consideration as the flu season approaches and the potential for surge situations increases, Davis pointed out.
Author: Pete Fisher
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