In Dr. David Walker’s summer ALC (alternate level of care) report he gives the example of the Toronto Central LHIN’s efforts to reduce their ALC roster.
Alternate level of care patients are said to be indivdiuals who have completed their acute care but are unable to go home or secure a long term care bed. There used to be an ugly word for them — bed blockers — which appeared to put the blame on the patient for a failure of the system to provide a continuum of care.
The Toronto Central LHIN identified 148 long-stay ALC patients for review. While the LHIN was able to transition 28 of these ALC patients to alternate destinations, 22 were deemed medically unstable and not ALC at all. That’s nearly 15 per cent.
