Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj is hopeful new legislation will help relieve some of the hospital pressures but admits there is no magic wand.
Since the start of the pandemic, the hospital is operating 60 more acute care beds and has 400 more clinical staff employees.
"We are full, meaning we don't have an extra square inch of space to put another bed," said Musyj.
Despite the extra beds and additional staff the hospital's emergency department has one of the longest average wait times in the province.
'There's no magic wand you can wave that is going to magically fix the issues that we're facing," said Musyj
He indicated WRH's problem does not come down to staffing it comes down to patient flow.
"We have to free up the flow. We are from my understanding the only province that is not implemented the situation where a patient is placed in an available long-term care bed while they wait for their preferred choice," said Musyj.
Legislation proposed today by the Minister of Health would see patients moved from acute care settings to an available long-term care bed.
As of Thursday afternoon, Musyj said there were 19 patients in the emergency department waiting for a hospital bed to open. There are another 31 patients in acute care beds that could be discharged but are waiting for their preferred long-term care location. Combined, these patients have waited in an acute care bed for 840 days.
Musyj said he will be reviewing the proposed legislation and working closely with community partners to relieve hospital pressures.
