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November 20, 2014 at 11:37 AM
Dr. Christopher Simpson, the cardiologist who leads the Canadian Medical Association, recently said in a statement that hospitals in Canada are swamped with older patients who have nowhere else to go.
He said hospitals say they face “Code Gridlock” — a situation in which they are housing so many stranded patients in need of long-term care (LTC) services, or at least short-term care services, that they can accept no more new patients.
He said hospitals can end with patients in “windowless nooks, crannies and broom closets.”
Of course, some of that stranding may have to do with the quirks of the Canadian health care system, but U.S. hospitals can also end up filling acute care beds with patients who really ought to be in nursing homes.
