The Erie St. Clair LHIN says it is working on solutions to alleviate the capacity crunch at Windsor Regional Hospital, including the possibility of opening more long-term care beds.
Acting CEO Ralph Ganter says they have received an interim license for extra beds in the past, and there is space at organizations like Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare to set them up.
"Right now, they don't have long-term care beds at all, so they're not licensed for long-term care," says Ganter. "If we can get the staffing for it, and we can get the management for it, then you could start to have people move into those beds.
"So they would be open -- 90 to 120 days, and perhaps the thinking could also be that, by that point, if some of the homes are out of outbreak, some of their capacity would be accessible to those patients," adds Ganter, emphasizing the transition would have to be seamless.
Right now, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit says there are influenza outbreaks at 12 long-term care homes across Windsor-Essex. It's pushed capacity at the Met Campus to 106% Wednesday, and 105% at the Ouellette Campus. The hospital has had to cancel some scheduled surgeries.
Ganter says in the future the LHIN will work more closely with the health unit to head off capacity issues before they start.
He also says the province is watching the situation in Windsor-Essex and across Ontario closely to see where it can lend a helpful hand.
- With files from Paul Pedro