LEBANON Dartmouth Hitchcock clinics in the Upper Valley are not currently accepting new primary care patients. Though some other affiliates of the Dartmouth Health system continue to have openings.“Right now, we are taking a pause on scheduling new.
LEBANON Dartmouth Hitchcock clinics in the Upper Valley are not currently accepting new primary care patients. Though some other affiliates of the Dartmouth Health system continue to have openings.“Right now, we are taking a pause on scheduling new.
nrthern new england has a backlog they call tremendous. in 2021, procedures were booked two to three months in advance. now, they are being postponed indefinitely. we know that any delay in a needed procedure has the risk that the situation could get worse. dr. ed merrens, dartmouth chief clinical officer, he says covid patients sometimes need long hospital stays and that means fewer available beds. a normal surgical case is in the hospital for three or four days, we have covid patients that stay in the hospital 40, 50, 60 days. reporter: adding to the problem? hospital has a staff vacancy rate of 25%. mccadden s procedure is now scheduled for the end of february with a different surgeon. we always imagined that we can take medical care for granted. you know, that if you need surgery, you can go get it, like i have never in my life considered maybe it wouldn t be available to me. reporter: a harsh reality as covid puts increasing strain on
RANDOLPH At Gifford Medical Center the record is 24.That’s the number of calls it took Gifford employees to find another hospital to take one patient in need of a higher level of care than the Randolph critical access hospital could provide, said.