Mental health bed shortage has 'taxed' staff and doctors, LHSC admits

The shortage of mental health beds at Victoria Hospital has 'taxed' staff and doctors, a London Health Sciences Centre vice-president admits.

"The longstanding capacity challenges we have faced have taxed staff and physicians who have worked tirelessly to attempt to manage the significantly increased volume of patients who require mental health care," said JulieTrpkovski, vice president of mental health, emergency services and access and flow, in an email toCBCNews.

It's the first time theLHSChas responded to growing concerns about the mental health bed crunch sinceCBCNews first reported about a psychiatrist's concerns.

• More psychiatric beds coming to LHSC but doctor says staffing is a big issue

Psychiatrists were told that new mental health beds would be opening, but were not told about staffing for the beds.

The issue landed at Queen's Park on Tuesday, when Ontario's new health minister announced that theLHSCwas hiring five psychiatrists and a nurse practitioner after pointed questions from London WestNDPMPPPeggySattler.

• London hospital hiring five new psychiatrists, new health minister says

'More patients will be cared for'

The first of two new units will open after construction is completed in the coming week,said Trpkovski.

"Our current reality is we have admitted patients in unconventional surge spaces," shewrote. "With the opening of the new unit, more patients will be cared for in purpose-designed mental health care space."

Funding for 24 new mental health beds was announced in October.

TheLHSCadmits there's a shortage of psychiatrists in Canada, but denied that it has a reputation among the doctors as being a bad place to work, making recruitment difficult.

"We continue to be approached by candidates who are interested in coming to London," a spokesperson for the hospital wrote.

"In addition to the recruitment of psychiatrists we are continuing to recruit nursing and other health disciplines to support team-based recovery oriented care, and are moving forward with expansion of ourhospitalmodel to round out our team complement."