The South Bruce Grey Health Centre (SBGHC) is going to start gradually bringing back acute care beds at the Chesley hospital.
The SBGHC says with an increasing number of patients designated as Alternate Level of Care (ALC) being discharged from the Chesley site, it is creating capacity to admit acute patients.
Before Dec. 27, 2021, the Chesley hospital contained eight acute beds and 10 Senior Centre of Care beds.
In order to address nursing staff shortages however, the Chesley inpatient unit was turned into an ALC unit for a temporary, but indefinite time period.
This ALC unit gave SBGHC the chance to implement an alternate staffing model, which would require not as many registered nurses.
Now the number of patients designated as ALC are going down, the Chesley site is able to return to its former model.
At the end of January, 23 of SBGHC’s 60 beds across all four of its sites were taken by ALC patients but could not be discharged to their next destination as a result of staffing and capacity challenges in other parts of the system.
SBGHC currently now has 16 beds with patients designated as ALC.
As of March 21, four acute beds will be reopened at the Chesley site, and 14 beds will remain designated for ALC and Seniors Centre of Care.
The SBGHC says their immediate and first priority is to return all clinical services across its four sites to full operations. They also seek the gradual return of acute beds to Chesley, as well as the return of the emergency departments at both Chesley and Walkerton to 24/7 operation.
SBGHC Board Chair Bill Heikkila says the gradual reintroduction of acute care beds at the Chesley site is an encouraging step in the right direction as they continue to remain focused on their goal of returning all of their services to full operation as soon as possible.
“Work is continuing every day on finding the necessary nursing resources which are required to return both the Walkerton and Chesley emergency departments to 24/7 service,” says Heikkila.
The SBGHC’s nursing recruitment and retention action plan has been posted on its website and includes updates on immediate actions being taken to restore their services, these include:
-Six agency registered nursed have been orientated and are currently filling shifts.
-Nine causal registered nurse positions have been posted internally and externally, and six positions have been filled.
-Two registered midwives have signed on to stabilize staffing in the family birthing centre, and five additional candidates are being explored.
-10 nursing student extern positions for registered nursing students have been offered and filled.
-One internationally educated nurse extern position has been offered and filled.
-Three fill time single site registered nurse positions with un-mastered lines have been posted, two in Walkerton and one in Chesley.
-A Recruitment Coordinator to support the recruitment of nursing staff have been hired.
SBGHC President and CEO Michael Barrett says, “our team has been working diligently on implementing the strategies outlined in our nursing recruitment and retention action plan, and we are beginning to see more stability within the nursing staff pool for the Chesley site with a number of agency nurses to care for acute patients, and being able to practice to full scope of practice is an important part of recruiting and retaining these highly skilled nurses.”
