High Occupancy Rate at the Campbellton Regional Hospital

Campbellton, July 4, 2016 – For the past few weeks, the Campbellton Regional Hospital has been coping with very high bed occupancy rates and a significant increase in the number of Emergency visits.

“Our staff members and physicians have been working hard to continue providing high-quality and safe health care services,” said Johanne Roy, acting vice-president – Clinical Services.  “We are analyzing the situation on a day-to-day basis, the objective being to better respond to our population’s needs,” she explained.

“The number of elderly patients awaiting placement in a care home or special care home puts ongoing pressure on the availability of hospital beds.  This situation poses a major challenge in managing our resources and providing services for patients requiring short-term care.  I congratulate our staff members who work daily to mitigate the effects of high bed occupancy rates.  In this regard, we seek the public’s cooperation in reducing the demand on our emergency department where their condition can be treated through alternate means,” Ms. Roy added.

The situation at the hospital is also in part due to challenges related to lack of staff and the period of the year when many employees are on vacation during the summer.

The facility’s emergency department operates as usual and is still available for people who require urgent care and want to consult a physician. However, Vitalité Health Network is asking the members of the public whose condition does not require urgent care to make an appointment with their family physician, to visit a walk-in clinic, or to call Tele-Care instead of reporting to the Emergency Department. If an Emergency visit is still deemed necessary, the public is informed to expect longer than usual wait times for non-critical situations.