A new program at Health Sciences North is helping to free up beds as the hospital continues to operate over its capacity daily. It’s called the Hospital to Home, or the H2H program. It has been running for more than a year now and supports patients as they transition safely out of the hospital back to their homes with coordinated care and support. It’s aimed at what are known as alternative level of care (ALC) patients – people who don’t need to be in the hospital, but are not ready to be at home without support. “We certainly have a large ALC population and this certainly helps us streamline some of those patients who are ultimately waiting here for rehab,” said Christie Jefferies, H2H program coordinator. “We … have a lot of applications to community beds. Certainly, being able to identify those patients on the unit who could go home with that ongoing rehabilitation." Within three months of implementing the program, the number of patients waiting for long-term care dropped from 73 to 30. Initial assessment at home Meghan Forestell, H2H program manager, explained how the program works. “When a patient is discharged, they receive a call within 24 hours and an initial assessment at home,” said Forestell. “We get a nurse into their home within 24 hours to make sure we have a good understanding of the patient’s care needs, and a transition program is implemented right away. So, they have nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, personal support workers and then other allied health as needed.” HSN officials say that daily occupancy at the hospital often exceeds 110 per cent, with an average of 644 patients in a hospital with 526 beds. The program enables safe and timely discharge for patients who would otherwise remain in acute care beds. “From April to February, we have 440 patients on-boarded to the program,” Forestell said. “Our goal for the year was 400, so we are very happy to be surpassing that, and we are aiming to end this fiscal year with 500 patients on-boarded.” HSN said the Hospital to Home program has significantly eased the strain on bed capacity. The program started in January of 2025 and is fully funded by Ontario Health.
