Retirement News : Seniors : More than 200 seniors await home-care services or place in nursing ...

More than 200 seniors await home-care services or place in nursing ...

Date Added: 01-04-2005

Special report - Fifth of six parts

Between 200 and 250 hospital beds across the province are occupied by seniors who don't need to be there.

Some are waiting for home-care services. Others need a nursing home bed.

Doctors know these patients should be discharged, but they can't do so because there is nowhere for them to go. Now that the province is cutting almost 300 hospital beds, seniors could create added pressure on the system by occupying beds needed by other, sicker patients.

"If we don't provide the community resources to move those patients out of hospital, the 200 to 250 (seniors) will still be occupying patient beds on April 1st. You just now have a smaller denominator, fewer beds left for acute care," said New Brunswick Medical Society president Dr. Lyle Weston. "If you have fewer beds left for acute care then, yes, you will see corridor medicine, you will see an increase in waiting times."

Of the 250 seniors waiting in hospital for alternative care about 150 patients need a nursing home bed. The average wait for a senior to be transferred from hospital to a nursing home is two months, though in many cases it can be longer. Some hospitals, such as the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont in Moncton, are trying to streamline the process by discharging patients to nursing homes and letting the paperwork follow.

In Saint John, the region with the highest number of seniors seeking nursing home admittance, the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation cuts beds in specialized services to meet reductions imposed by the province. It did so because their seniors had no place to go.

"Any initiative that allows for older people to have more access to (nursing home) beds that's a boost to us and to them," said health authority spokeswoman Patricia Crowdis.

Having seniors occupy hospital beds when they don't need them is not good for the health system, or the patient, said Saint John geriatrician Dr. Pamela Jarrett. Moving seniors to a nursing home is difficult and long waiting times cause added frustration for patients and their families. Hospitals also don't have the same programs as nursing homes

Seniors awaiting alternative care cause a chain reaction within the hospital, limiting beds for others who might need them.

"As a physician also caring for other people who need that level of care, it's very frustrating to not be able to get a person into hospital when you need it because there's somebody waiting to get into a nursing home," she said.

Hospitals across the province aren't all faced with nursing home shortages, said Health Minister Elvy Robichaud. While he acknowledges there are shortages in the Greater Saint John area and backlogs in Bathurst, the rest of the province has enough nursing home spots to meet their needs. There have also been boosts to extra-mural nursing and other home-care services that will allow more seniors to return home rather than go to a nursing home, Mr. Robichaud said.

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