We have a health care crisis building - the proposed one site hospital is going to be too small, city council was told last night.
That is what Ward 8 Councillor Ted Callaghan deduced after listening to a presentation Wednesday at the priorities committee by Vickie Kaminski, president and chief executive officer of the Sudbury Regional Hospital and Richard Joly, executive director of the North East Community Care Access Centre.
Kaminski informed councillors that the hospital is facing a dramatic increase in Alternative Level of Care (ALC) patients, 126 on Monday alone, which is an all time high.
“On average 30 per cent of the hospital's acute beds are occupied by ALC patients. The impact is that the emergency department becomes overcrowded with acutely ill patients waiting to be admitted. There are no hospital beds available for surgical patients requiring post-operative care. When the need for beds outweighs availability, the hospital is forced to cancel surgeries,” said Kaminski.
Even worse is that the new one-site hospital, to be operational in 18 months, will result in an overall decrease of beds. There is nothing in the plan to accommodate any ALC patients, she said.
The catchment area for the Sudbury Regional Hospital has one of the highest per cent of ALC patients tying up beds in the province, said Kaminski.
Joly noted statistics showing a dramatic increase occurring in caseloads and service levels for clients over 65 years since 2006, due to the increasing age of the population.
“There is marked evidence of ever-increasing levels of support required for seniors and frail seniors over the age of 85 years in the last 18 months. It is up 30 per cent,” said Joly.
Callaghan was terse in his remarks.
“It is obvious, since our last briefing by (both of) you (in December) that things are getting worse. In my communications with the public the talk is all about ALC beds. Since we are looking at significantly fewer beds less with the new hospital, this is a crisis,” said Callaghan.
Callaghan implored council to “get off their duffs” and get more engaged with this issue.
“We are players in all of this since we dedicated $25 million - $1 million per year - out of our budget, to this hospital.”
Callaghan asked Kaminiski if there was any plan for extra floors.
“At the centre tower we can add three to four floors. We have the steel in place to support that but we would need to shell the floors in before we put the roof on. It would cost $30 to $40 million extra for that but the province does not seem willing to support this at this time,” she said.
Kaminski said the window of opportunity to add the floors is drawing to an end.
“We can't afford to fund this ourselves. If we don't do this we will lose the opportunity,” she said.
Callaghan responded with a rousing speech.
“This council will have to stand up for their citizens and demand, by motion of council, that the shell for the extra floors be done. We have to show the folks in the Ministry of Health that we expect action on this demand,” he said.
Ward 10 Councillor Frances Caldarelli hotly agreed with Callaghan.
“Look, the Ministry of Health has got to come to their senses about approving more capacity in this hospital. The chief executive officer and her board have to be nice to those in the Ministry of Health because they are their funders. We don't.
It is time to wake up those guys. What are we supposed to do with these ALC patients? Dump them on the street?” fumed Caldarelli.
