Kingston Hospital Charges LTC patients $800 a day
TheKingston General Hospital, which is facing a serious intensive-care bedshortage, says it has been forced to take the “horrible” step ofcharging long-term care patients about $800 a day if they don’t accepta similar bed elsewhere in the province. In some cases, the bedscould be as far away as Thunder Bay, and the forced relocation couldresult in emotional stress for patients who want to stay in theKingston area. The policy, which individual institutions areallowed to pass, was approved by the hospital’s board of directorsafter the bed shortage forced critically ill intensive-care patients tobe transferred to hospitals in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa. “It’shorrible, it’s terrible,” hospital spokesperson Julie White saidyesterday about the choice faced by the hospital. “That’s why we haveto take these very important steps. “By all means there isconcern” about the patients who have to be moved, she continued, butadded that there is also concern for critical-care patients who can’tget into the hospital. A spokesperson for Health Minister George Smitherman did not return calls for comment yesterday.