Staffing Shortages Forcing Delays In Discharging Over 550 Patients In Oregon Hospitals

PORTLAND, Ore. — The state of Oregon’s numbers show that over 560 patients in the hospital could be released if there were available beds at care homes.

“Those folks would normally be discharged into a skilled nursing facility or another lower level of care, but those facilities are having major staffing issues as are hospitals,” said Dave Northfield with the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

Another 200 are in the hospital waiting for a bed.  That number went up by 50 in the last 24 hours.

Northfield says the state has hired people to help staff beds in nursing homes to get more people out of the hospital.

The state is forecasting that COVID hospitalizations will be around 400 by the end of March when the state’s indoor mask mandate is set to be lifted.

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