By Angela Hill

New program to deal with hospital volumes

Jun 22, 2011 | 6:33 AM

As the number of people requiring special care homes reaches the highest ever, the impact is seen as Victoria Hospital continues to operate over capacity.

“We’re actually at over 60 on our waitlist. It’s the highest it’s ever been for long-term care,” said Carol Gregoryk, vice-president integrated health services for the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region.

In fact 495 people were assessed, and the met the criteria, for admission to long-term care in the last fiscal year, but there were only 150 vacancies.

“We’re just lucky that we only have a few of them in the hospital, only about 15 to 20 at the hospital at any given time.”

Some of the other people are at home with homecare, moving in and out of respite beds across the region, while others are waiting to get out of personal care homes to the higher level of care.

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Backups in emergency departments, cancelled surgeries and patients receiving care in hospital hallways are all fallouts from the increased volumes.

“The impact really is on the patient. It’s not nice to have your surgery cancelled and none of us really want to do that,” Gregoryk said.

According to the region’s quality documents, there were 24 surgeries cancelled in the 2010-11 fiscal year — 17 in the last quarter.

More beds would help, but with the new Pineview Terrace Lodge still not under construction and planning for Victoria Hospital stalled, that help is a ways down the road, Gregoryk said.

“There isn’t really any recourse, it’s just dealing with it on a day-to-day basis and trying to keep people safe,” she said.

In an effort to deal with the issues due to a lack of beds, the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region is rolling out a program to Victoria Hospital.

It began as a pilot project in some departments last year, but when it rolls out in July, the patient care co-ordinator unit will track all patients as they move through the hospital.

Using a cross section of staff including nurses, assessors and social workers, the unit helps people plan for when they leave the hospital, so they know what they need for care. The idea is the program will decrease the need to return to the hospital with the same health problems.

“It gives everybody a lot of hope because our pilot project … worked very well, we didn’t cancel surgeries, we had beds. It was just a better process for everybody as they came through the hospital,” Gregoryk said.

It’s another step towards the best solution, which is “managing chronic disease through primary care, so you just don’t end up here in the first place.”

There are no easy solutions to the overcapacity problem, but Gregoryk says the new unit is giving staff a lot of hope.

“We always want to do what’s best for the patients and take care of people safely and so the patient care co-ordinator unit right now is our light at the end of the tunnel.”

ahill@panow.com