THUNDER BAY -- The number of patients staying in Northwestern Ontario hospitals beyond their need for acute care has drifted well beyond the provincial average.
The North West Local Health Integration Network's new 2014 third quarter statistics show the region's Alternate Level of Care (ALC) bed occupancy at 21.56 per cent, compared to a provincial average of 14 per cent.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care's target is nine per cent.
In the second quarter of 2013, the North West had 14 per cent ALC occupancy, one point higher than the provincial average.
The North West LHIN recently added stipulations in health-care providers' accountability agreements that mandate their cooperation in the evolving ALC issue.
"We're monitoring this on an ongoing basis," said North West LHIN CEO Laura Kokocinski. "As we start moving people out to other resources, the numbers go up. That means we're starting to move people and things are changing. It changes on a daily basis."
North West LHIN senior chief information officer Brian Ktytor said patients in the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre make up the bulk of the gap between the region and the provincial average.
He pointed out the Thunder Bay Interim Long Term Care facility on James Street closed in late 2013. Although ALC bed occupants aren't exclusively patients waiting for long-term care, the loss of those 50 beds put pressure on primary care.
"What we're facing right now is a lot of demand on specifically Thunder Bay regional as a result of pressures in the long-term care sector, the seniors sector and the mental health and addictions sector," he said.
"In some of the small towns where there aren't a lot of long-term care or assisted living services, someone might be in the hospital designated ALC but that's the most effective site in that small town."
The Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora has declared an ALC crisis twice in the last four years. Its president, Mark Balcaen said hospitals serving smaller populations have to monitor the issue much more closely.
For him, the shifts in ALC patients make the difference between Kenora's current three to four full beds and last year's seven-patient crisis.
"With the normal ebbs and flows, three patients can make the difference between 'everything's fine,' and 'we're in crisis,'" he said.
"We were in crisis at this time last year. We're not now but in Kenora, we have to keep a close eye on this. Three or four patients can make a big difference in a small or medium-sized hospital."
