Private clinic to take Foothills patients overnight

The Calgary Health Region will be sending patients recovering from orthopedic surgeries to a private clinic in hopes of easing a bed crunch on an interim basis.

Under the deal, Health Resources Centre, which already does some hip and knee surgeries for the region, will provide post-surgery recovery for a maximum of six orthopedic patients from the Foothills Medical Centre.

"None of them would be critically ill," said health region spokeswoman Tracy Wasylak Monday.

"The patients would be those that are getting ready to discharge in a convalescence mode. They're not quite ready to go home yet, but their acute injury is finished."

Interim measure, says health authority

Wasylak called the two-year contract an interim measure that means the region won't have to cancel surgeries and will see fewer orthopedic patients in emergency beds.

The cost of a hospital or clinic bed is about the same, but it will cost an extra $225 to move each patient by inter-hospital ambulance to the clinic.

In December, the Calgary Health Region announced that as many as 70 beds will be closed on any given day to ensure patient safety because of a staff shortage, particularly of nurses.

Dr. Glenn Comm, head of the Calgary and Area Physicians Association, said it is a good idea that will free up some additional space until the city's newest hospital is built.

"The real fix is the south hospital and that's quite a ways away, so anything we can do to increase capacity in the meantime is always going to be welcome."

The $500-million south Calgary hospital is set to open in four years.