Health Region Shifts Policy On Bed Use

Health Region Shifts Policy On Bed Use

Tuesday, September 01, 2009 at 12:42

 

 

The Mamawetan Churchill River Regional Health Authority is moving away from using acute care beds for long-term care patients.

 

The health region’s director of communications, Linda Mikolayenko, says this is to ensure that long-term care patients receive the proper care they need, and to ensure there are enough acute care beds for those patients needing them.

 

She says it isn’t a huge issue right now in the health region, and if there an acute care bed is available, it will be put to use.

 

“If a need arises and somebody needs immediate care, and we do have an acute care bed available, then they would still have access to that, even though the long-term need for them might be for long-term care. But we’re not going to be turning people away,” Mikolayenko says.

 

However, Mikolayenko says if there is a long-term bed available in another facility further south, a patient could be sent there.

 

Currently there are 14 long-term care beds in the region, all in La Ronge, and all of them are full.

 

There is a waiting list of 28 patients.

 

The health region is going to perform an assessment of what would be the best future solution for long-term care, whether it’s acquiring more beds or expanding facilities.