Hospital stays too long, says Health PEI

P.E.I. patients spend too much time in hospital, according to Health PEI, and that is leading to longer wait times for surgery.

Health PEI made the observation in its annual report. The province says shortening the length of hospital stays is a key part of its strategy to reduce surgery wait times. The Island currently has the second-longest delays in the country.

Hospitals use a benchmark called "Expected Length of Stay" to estimate how long a patient should be admitted based on their age and condition. According to the benchmark, the average hospital stay on P.E.I. for 2011-2012 was three days too long.

The head of the P.E.I. Medical Society said the expectations of patients and their families has to change.

"In the past you would bring your loved one in and we would return them restored," said Dr. David Bannon. "That just is not going to work in the fiscal environment that we're in, not to mention it may not be the best thing for the patient."

Health Minister Doug Currie said a lack of availability of acute care beds is keeping Island surgeons from performing more operations. Some elective surgeries are cancelled because there is no bed for the patient to occupy. He said the solution is more efficient use of the beds that are currently in place.

"How are we using our beds, how are we protecting our most acute care beds for things elective surgeries? We recognize wait times for elective surgeries are not acceptable," said Currie.

Island hospitals are currently reviewing patient bed flow in an attempt to free up more acute care beds. The plan is to make a significant improvement in the use of hospital beds in the coming year, reducing the average hospital stay from three days over the benchmark to one day. But Health PEI says it will take years to make a significant dent in surgery waiting lists.

In the meantime, surgery wait lists grow longer each year, thanks to P.E.I.'s aging population.

Currie says the province has doubled its funding for home care over the past four years. It's now considering a new type of home care known as "first care," a system which would provide supports for family members providing care themselves for a loved one at home.

Lengthy hospital stay for acute-care patients is not the only issue Health PEI is looking to address in order to free up beds. The province will issue a request for proposals in the coming weeks for a new plan for long-term care beds in the province. Currently some acute care beds are filled by seniors waiting to be placed in a long-term care facility.

The province says it will look to the private sector to construct more long-term care beds over the next few years.

For mobile device users: Do P.E.I. patients need to be sent home from hospital more quickly?