Health officials say City Hospital not underused as doctor claims

“Acute care services have been ignored very drastically in the last several years and that’s the reason why we have congestion and in emergencies we always have a shortage of beds,” Sharma said.

Integrated health services vice president, Corey Miller, said 28 beds were converted to office space in 2012, but will be converted back to beds this June.

“We are converting some of that space. There is a 28 bed unit here on 6200 (unit) that we are converting to a 28 bed, what we call, convalescence unit … a unit that focuses on supporting and rehabilitating our patients to better them transition them back into their home environment,” Miller said, adding plans to convert the unit have been in the work for months.

Linda Walker with the Health Region said the 6200 unit was originally used for medicine until 2009 when the work was transferred to Royal University Hospital (RUH). The space was then used by seniors waiting for a spot in long term care. In 2012, it was then converted into the current clinical services office space.

“We moved to a two-site medicine model which allowed us to consolidate some of our intensive care units at St. Paul and RUH,” Miller said. “(Sharma) maybe didn’t agree with the model in that transition when it happened and he continues not to.”

Today, scattered boxes line the walls of the unit as workers prepare to move to the 1955 building at RUH.

One room on the floor was used to store wheelchairs for a nearby unit but will also be converted back to a bedroom in June. Walker said that was the only acute room used for storage in the entire hospital.

It is unclear how many rooms are in the 6200 unit or whether Sharma meant 64 individual rooms or beds. Multiple beds may be placed in a single room.

Sharma also expressed concerns over what he said were repeated discussions about the possibility of closing the emergency department at City Hospital, a point Mille said is not true.

“No immediate plans to close the ER. We’re always evaluating our care models so I’m certainly not willing to say we won’t ever look at it but it isn’t anything we have planned at this time,” Miller said.

City Hospital currently houses 152 acute care beds, where patients stay in hospital.
The convalescent unit is expected to open at the end of June.

lkretzel@rawlco.com

On Twitter: @LKretzel

by paNOW

Health officials say City Hospital not underused as doctor claims

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