Hospitals grinding to halt because of stranded seniors, CMA head says

In a press release put out today the head of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Christopher Simpson, a cardiologist at Kingston General Hospital, describes 'gridlocked' hospitals around Canada struggling to make room for incoming patients with acute medical problems because so many older patients needing chronic care and having no other place to go are taking up about 15% of the acute care beds.

"Thousands of older Canadians are taking up acute care beds at $1000 a day even though they are well enough to be discharged because they have no place to go."

"There either isn’t a long-term care bed available in their area or there aren’t the support services they need to live at home. About 15 per cent of acute care beds in Canada are taken up this way.

“We are warehousing them. We do the best we can. But it’s not anywhere near good enough.”

Video quotes from Dr. Christopher Simpson can be downloaded from this link:
http://www.skyflyproductions.com/CMA-AMC