Vitalité Health Network and it’s 4 groups of physicians are recommending that the management of nursing homes be handed over to regional health officials.
Georges Dumont cardiologist Dr. Luc Cormier says it could alleviate the shortage of hospital beds.
“There is a certain amount of beds in our hospital that are occupied by patients who are waiting to get into a nursing home. That percentage varies across the province, for example in our hospital, it probably represents about 20 per cent of all hospital beds,” he says.
He says that about 60 people at the hospital are waiting to go to a nursing home and that under the authority of health officials, an elevated level of care could be provided directly in the homes.
“We don’t think we need to run the homes themselves, we just need to have a better integration of the care that in delivered within the homes and better mechanisms to have patients waiting in the hospitals transferred to nursing homes,” Dr. Cormier says.
He says offering better in-home care would free up hospital beds for other patients.
Dr. Cormier adds some patients would recover better in a nursing home environment and that many would rather be there.
