Horizon requests ‘critical state’ protocol for hospital

Alternate care patients crowding hospitals to skip queue for nursing home beds

Horizon Health Network has requested that the Department of Social Development grant ‘critical state admission prioritization’ status for alternate-level-of-care patients at the Miramichi Regional Hospital and three other facilities. (FREE PRESS PHOTO)

---

MIRAMICHI • Horizon Health Network has asked the province to implement its “critical state” protocol to alleviate overcrowding at the Miramichi Regional Hospital and three other facilities.

The provincial Department of Social Development says it’s granting that request.

Horizon issued a news release on Tuesday, stating that it had requested “critical state admission prioritization” to transfer patients who no longer require acute care from hospitals to long-term care facilities.

The protocol was sought for the Miramichi hospital, the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton, the Saint John Regional Hospital, and the Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville. It prioritizes patients who no longer require acute hospital care for all community-based beds in long-term care facilities.

Horizon president and CEO Margaret Melanson said all four regional hospitals are experiencing “chronic overcapacity” due to high rates of alternate-level-of-care patients awaiting services from Social Development.

“This is not a request we make lightly,” she said in a statement.

“However, despite the great effort by staff and physicians to care for all inpatients, the current situation across our hospital system is unsustainable.”