Low bed capacity grows wait times at NMC; Staff shortages, high demand stress statewide system
Saint Albans Messenger
Wait times for inpatient care at Northwestern Medical Center have ballooned, and interim CEO Jonathan Billings is asking for people to be patient.
Essentially, Vermont’s medical system just doesn’t have the capacity for the increased demand that began to affect hospitals across the state after 2020, and it will take some time before the statewide system can adjust accordingly, Billings said.
As a result, wait times for inpatient care have increased to one to two hours in some cases as physicians deal with an increased load.
“As folks head to their primary care office, we ask them to be patient with offices,” Billings said. “It may well be an hour or two hour wait depending on the situation. We apologize for that, but at some point, it’s just a math issue.”