EDMONTON, AB – It’s another attempt to free up hospital space as the fourth wave of COVID-19 batters Alberta.
Surgeries are being delayed and now the province says it’s investing up to $36-million for wage increases and supplementing the workforce within home care agencies and continuing care facilities.
President and CEO of Alberta Health Services Dr. Verna Yiu says increasing the pool of available staff means more patients can move to their homes as soon as they’re able.
“We have about 400 patients right now in our acute care system who actually could potentially go home either to a long-term care setting or to their home setting so by providing this incentive funding and having more home care staff, we’re hoping that we can actually improve the flow within the hospital to allow for increasing the capacity.”
AHS added more surge beds last week but Yiu said Thursday that hospital capacity remains at around 87 percent.