An overcapacity protocol was initiated at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre on Friday.
Allan Sinclair, AHS’s senior operating officer with its central zone, said the protocol is common not only at the local hospital, but at various urban and some rural hospitals across Canada.
“It would be when there’s pressure in the emergency (unit) and pressure on moving patients through the system, and that would be both from emergency to wards and from wards to either home or to long-term care setting,” he said.
He said the definition of overcapacity is based around the pressures on the emergency units.
“If you had no patients in your emergency room, and all of your beds were full, then your next patient could stay in emergency. It’s when your emergency is facing the challenge when they’re not quite sure how their day is unfolding and whether patients will continue to move.”
The average wait time for the emergency unit on Friday at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre was not available.
The protocol means the hospital is able to use all the wards and spaces available to help patients, including hospital hallways, for instance.
It’s important to remember no one is turned away, Sinclair said.
Last year, there were more than 200 days when the hospital initiated the protocol.
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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