Vitalité calling for hospital patients in Bathurst to be fast-tracked into nursing homes

A day after the Department of Social Development agreed to let certain Horizon Health hospital patients jump the line to get into nursing homes, Vitalité is asking for the same for patients in Bathurst.

Vitalité Health Network said Thursday it submitted a request to the department, asking that patients in Chaleur Regional Hospital get priority for nursing home beds, according to an email sent to Radio-Canada.

"Occupancy rates remain above the threshold of what is considered safe," Dr. France Desrosiers, the network's CEO and president, wrote in French. "Our goal is to make sure that a bed is rapidly available for each person who needs acute care."

In an emailed statement, the department said it is in talks with Vitalité "about the critical state admissions process for prospective nursing home residents in their regional hospitals and is advising on next steps."

The statement did not provide specifics.

This comes two days after Horizon Health made a similar plea to the province, saying that hospitals in Fredericton, Saint John, Miramichi and Waterville are especially struggling to keep up with a critical state of overcapacity.

On Wednesday, Social Development granted the Horizon request and committed to bumping patients currently in hospitals to the top of nursing home wait lists for the next 30 days.

Both networks have said the proportion of patients who don't belong in hospitals is affecting the safe delivery of health care to others, including in emergency rooms. People who need to get into hospitals have been stuck in ERs, taking up beds there, because hospital beds are full.

Vitalité's request focuses on admissions coming from the Chaleur hospital, located in Bathurst, where it said the need for more efficient patient flow is great.

"Currently, about 47 per cent of beds at the Chaleur Regional Hospital are occupied by patients awaiting an alternate level of care," Desrosiers wrote in the email in French. 

The francophone network has seen a patient's average length of stay across its hospitals decrease from 65 days last year, to 58.5 days this year, and "our hospital occupancy rate is now below 100 per cent," according to the email.

"Despite this progress, the situation is tying up important resources, hinders the hospital's ability to offer acute care, leads to overflow and prolongs emergency room wait times."