Overcrowded Dartmouth General shuffles patients

Dartmouth General Hospital is so crowded this week that one patient has been moved to Windsor.

Sixteen patients were transferred to Halifax on Wednesday, while one was sent to the Hants Community Hospital.

John Gillis, spokesman for Capital Health, said the number of patients admitted through the emergency room spiked in the last three days and there were no beds available for them.

"You could certainly say Dartmouth General is overcrowded right now," he said.

There are 100 patient beds in the hospital. The hospital has had to send people away a couple of times this year.

Gillis said Dartmouth General runs close to or at full capacity every day. He said it's unusual to send patients so far away for care, though it's been done before.

"If there's a patient whose needs can be met in Hants better than they can be met in Dartmouth at this moment, we'll make use of those beds," he said.

Gillis said patients in Dartmouth who need surgery could be transferred to Halifax.

He said the hospital is overcrowded because there are many people who are very ill, and not because of any particular outbreak.