Right now 6 operating rooms are running at 68 per cent capacity. The goal is to have those six operating at full capacity by September of 2011 which would require the hiring of another anesthetist.
The long term goal is to have 7 operating rooms running at full capacity by February of next year which requires 3 additional anesthetists in total.
Chief of Staff, Dr. Brian Wheelock says the other problem that has to be overcome, and will be a tough nut to crack, is the availability of acute care beds at the Regional Hospital. A large percentage of those beds are now being taken up by people who should be in nursing homes if space were available.
