Greater Sudbury Northern Life
Sudbury Regional Hospital received approval today from the North East Local Health Integration Network (NE LHIN) to implement 24 interim transitional care beds in order to help alleviate some of the hospital’s existing pressures.
According to a government press release, this resolution is the result of numerous meetings with all community partners: the NE LHIN, the hospital administration, the doctors, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci and the provincial government, who have been working together to come up with ways to resolve the current situation.
Discussions will continue regarding further strategies to deal with the overall alternate level of care (ALC) issue in Sudbury.
“The McGuinty government and our partners continue to focus on meeting the immediate needs of our community and ensuring the citizens of Greater Sudbury get the care they deserve,” said Bartolucci, in a release.
“The allocation of these interim, transitional beds will assist in providing quality level of care at our hospital and ultimately help to reduce wait times for patients. While there are always challenges to be met, we as a community will continue to address those challenges together to ensure the best possible outcome.”
While the LHIN has developed an array of strategies aimed at improving access to care in the North East, including programs and services that will allow seniors to live in their own homes longer with the proper community supports, it takes time for some of these initiatives to take effect.
Transitional beds can be used as a way to provide short-term relief to the health care system.
Sudbury faces particular challenges, including varying timelines to complete future LTC home and hospital capacity as well as a fire which impacted LTC home capacity. Today’s approval will help to bridge these challenges.
The meetings held in the past few weeks clearly underline that people and patients of a community benefit most when health care partners work together.
"These beds will bring immediate relief to Sudbury’s patients, physicians and hospital administrators. We will continue to support ALC reduction strategies and programs across the region,” said Mathilde Gravelle Bazinet, board chair NE LHIN.
"It has been clear from the outset that a collaborative, multi-faceted, community-based approach would be required to find solutions to this crisis. We are pleased to see these immediate steps being taken and optimistic that with continued cooperation among community partners we will ultimately come to an effective resolution to this issue," said HRSRH board chair Carol Hartman.
"This is good and encouraging news for patients, staff, and physicians. We are working together, and we are building momentum among our partners to find the solutions our system requires," said HRSRH president and CEO Vickie Kaminski.
"The hospital's physicians are fully engaged as a partner in this process and will continue to advocate for their patients, and for a resolution to this crisis. There remains much work to be done in ensuring an effective and sustainable solution that will ensure our continued ability to provide the quality of care our patients deserve. It is our intention to remain at the table and continue to offer our input," stated HRSRH chief of staff Dr. Chris McKibbon.
“Hospitals are one of the cornerstones of our health care system,” concluded Bartolucci. “We will continue to work with the LHIN and our hospital partners to ensure that the health care needs of Sudburians are met.”
