Alternate level of care patient (ALC) numbers at Health Sciences North are continuing to creep upwards.
According to the organization's website, there are currently 45 ALC patients being cared for in acute-are beds at the hospital's Ramsey Lake Road site, and another 61 in the Functional Assessment and Outcome Unit at the Memorial site.
ALC patients are those who no longer require acute care, but remain in the hospital system because they are waiting for care in a nursing home or other community facility.
When there are a lot of ALC patients occupying acute care beds, it makes it difficult for staff to find beds for emergency room patients who need them.
There are currently 35 patients in the emergency room waiting for hospital beds.
Health Sciences North was also recently forced to cancel one surgery because of the situation.
The number of ALC patients in the city was at its lowest in years last spring — about 40 — after the opening of roughly 150 new long-term care beds in Greater Sudbury.
However, these numbers have continued to creep up.
In October, there were about 23 ALC patients in the hospital's Ramsey Lake Road site, and 56 at its Memorial site.
Posted by Arron Pickard
