NLHS could need $5M, more agency nurses to staff new beds in old hospital
Health authority plans to add 45 beds to Corner Brook's old hospital
The new head of Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services says the health authority will need more than $5 million to deal with the overflow of alternative care patients at the new Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook, and will likely need to contract agency nurses to staff interim care beds at the city's old hospital.
As first reported by CBC News on Monday, alternative care patients are taking up between 30 and 40 per cent of the new hospital's acute care beds.
On Tuesday, NLHS CEO Dr. Pat Parfrey elaborated on plans to incorporate 45 new care beds into the old Corner Brook hospital, but said that staffing could require agency nurses.
"It's a big problem, and we have a deficit of providers in this part of the province," Parfrey said. "Trying to fulfil those recruitment issues is a challenge for us."
Teara Freake, NLHS COO and vice-president of the western zone, said the health authority is taking strides to address staffing needs in the Corner Brook area.
"We have a current graduating class of 34 at the school of nursing and in other areas. We have 22 of those staff confirmed with another nine in progress, so we're hopeful to obtain a lot of those nurses," Freake said.
Seventeen practical nurses have also been recruited from the graduating class as of January, Freake said, and the health authority also expects around 10 international nurses to be ready for practice in the region each month from May to September.
However, she also said agency nurses could be required.
NLHS announced plans in May 2024, to cut the use of agency nurses to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels by 2026.
Using old hospital beats waiting for new facility: Parfrey
Two requests for proposals will be issued soon in hopes the 45 beds can be open for care in the next six months, Parfrey said.
He couldn't share an exact cost, but said it would cost north of $5 million to cover renovations, equipment and staffing.
Parfrey said 30 of those beds will initially be reserved for those waiting for space in a long-term care facility, but he hopes to shrink that number over time and transition the beds into more alternative care beds.
"If you had to build [a facility], it would take five years. So it seems entirely logical that if you're in it nine months ago, it will have deteriorated a bit but you can renovate that. It seems entirely logical to use it for an interim purpose," he said.
"We have a challenge to meet dealing with frailty in this region.… I strongly believe that we need to go along that track."
Parfrey said he believes the model being brought to Corner Brook can work in other regions, pointing to the use of 20 care beds at the Chancellor Park care facility in St. John's.
Forty-six per cent of the 50 patients admitted to those beds in the last six months were able to go home, he said, while just eight per cent had to be admitted into long-term care.
The success of the program is prompting the purchase of another 20 beds in that facility.
"[It's] not a medicalized model, its a mobility model. So that's the type of thought processes that are being extrapolated to western [Newfoundland]," Parfrey said.
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With files from Colleen Connors
