By Cecilia Nasmith
In a typical year at Northumberland Hills Hospital, president and chief executive officer Linda Davis said at this week's hospital board meeting, inpatient volumes begin to drop around April, May or June.
That is not the case this year, Davis said, and the possibility must be admitted that this could be the new norm.
As well, she continued, the number of ALC patients remains high. These Alternative Level of Care patients no longer have acute health concerns, but are not well enough to be discharged without certain community supports in place. Some can be discharged to long-term-care homes, but that number is limited both in terms of funding and available long-term-care beds.
Davis expressed hope for good news on this front at the end of the month, when Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini visits the hospital to make a funding announcement.
