My sources inside KGH state the hospital was 82 patients over capacity this Tuesday while the administrator told the Courier they were 45 beds over capacity. I suspect he is so use to the 30 people being in hallways that he now considers hallway beds part of the capacity of KGH.
The administrator does go on to confirm the facts I pointed to yesterday on Politics in BC.
"It's a major challenge because our population in the Central Okanagan has grown by 6,000 in the last two years. It’s not just a community hospital – it’s a major referral centre (for the Southern Interior)," hospital administrator Rick Riley said Wednesday. “It’s busier, and the hospital hasn’t enlarged in that time, so it’s a challenge."- Kelowna Courier, March 9, 2006
It seems the only people not aware the Okanagan was growing were the people involved in Health Planning. If they were aware of this wouldn't a reasonable person be demanding more beds for the hospital? No the Interior Health Authority (IHA), having already closed beds in most every other hospital in the Interior has been pretty silent on this issue in public.
Has the IHA been telling the Minister of Health of this problem. If so why has nothing been done? Why were beds closed in other areas of the Southern interior when the IHA knew that the Okanagan was growing, that these patients would have to get treatment in Kelowna because there were no beds in their community?
Its no wonder the Liberals ditched the underperforming Ministry of Health Planning and local MLA Sindi Hawkins from Cabinet. Now we know, planning was just a buzz word.
* Code purple is a term used when admin staff are directed to empty hospital beds of any non urgent patients to make room for more critical cases. Who makes up the patients "evicted" during code purple? They are those that have just had surgery, people in hospital for observation, those awaiting surgery.
No comments:
Post a Comment