Fredericton ALC patients now prioritized for nursing home beds

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Fredericton hospital patients have now been temporarily bumped to the top of the waitlist for available nursing home beds in the province.

Social Development Minister Jill Green has approved “critical state admission prioritization” for alternate level of care (ALC) patients waiting at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital (DECRH) for nursing home beds.

As of Thursday, the Fredericton hospital had an occupancy rate of 110 per cent – slightly above that of the Saint John, Moncton and Miramichi regional hospitals.

The “critical state” prioritization – which can be in place for up to 30 days at a time – is designed to free up beds in hospitals where emergency rooms and acute care units are overcapacity, ambulance offload delays are “prolonged,” and “critical” surgeries have been cancelled due to space.

On Jan. 4, Green gave critical state prioritization to Saint John Regional Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital at the request of Horizon Health Network. Shortly thereafter, Horizon requested this status for four Fredericton-area hospitals.

The prioritization of DECRH patients was implemented on Jan. 23, according to Social Development spokesperson Rebecca Howland.

“The department is also working to shorten waitlists in other regions,” she said in an email. “Mount Saint Joseph Nursing Home in Miramichi has added 30 beds to help with the discharge of patients from the Miramichi Regional Hospital as well as those waiting in community.”

It’s unclear the status of Horizon’s other prioritization requests in the Fredericton region. Neither Horizon nor the Department of Social Development would provide an update on the requests for Oromocto Public Hospital, the Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville, and Hotel-Dieu of St. Joseph in Perth-Andover.

Howland said the prioritization status remains in effect for the Saint John Regional Hospital, but it has been lifted for St. Joseph’s Hospital.

According to Horizon, the occupancy rate at the Saint John Regional Hospital was 101 per cent as of Thursday. That’s the same rate as The Moncton Hospital and slightly lower than the Miramichi Regional Hospital at 105 per cent.

The national benchmark for hospital occupancy is 85 per cent.

A new provincial regulation was introduced last fall to allow the minister of Social Development to prioritize ALC patients waiting in hospital for nursing home beds. This prioritization, which is done on a case-by-case basis at the request of a regional health authority, can be in place for up to 30 days.

Although other placements are put on hold for 30 days, that does not mean people are losing their standing on the waitlist.

Rebecca Howland

During that time, nursing home operators or admissions committees must offer vacant beds to “the next prospective resident on the home’s preferred waitlist from the hospital(s) that have been declared to be in critical state,” or if there are no prospective residents that meet that match, then the available bed goes to “the next prospective resident from the interim list who is in the hospital(s) declared to be in critical state, despite the fact there may be prospective residents on the waitlist of the nursing home for regular placements.”

“Although other placements are put on hold for 30 days, that does not mean people are losing their standing on the waitlist,” Howland said in an email.

Earlier this month, Margaret Melanson, interim Horizon president and CEO, spoke to the media about wait times and capacity issues at these four regional hospitals following a holiday season of increased ER demand and the decreased discharging of patients waiting for long-term care.

She said Horizon had undertaken a number of initiatives, including the accelerated discharge of some Saint John Regional Hospital patients or avoiding some admissions altogether by “identifying and providing appropriate and timely services.”

Howland said Social Development is working with the Department of Health “to address current pressures in hospitals” while “balancing the needs of seniors requiring residential care.”