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“We’ve looked at our historical data and we’ve looked at what has been our actual length of stay for patients versus our expected length of stay,” Trpkovski said. “The teams have looked at improvement opportunities across those services.”

LHSC is working with other London-area health care providers to secure transitional beds to offset many of the shuttered hospital spaces. The closings will be temporarily buffered by the opening of 20 surge beds this flu season, the memo states.

The hospital is anticipating the bed closings will have a “minimal impact” on staff, Trpkovski said.

“We recognize, for how we’re utilizing the staff across the hospitals, the models might change a bit,” she said, declining to give more specific details on the potential for layoffs or how many staff are directly affected by the 49 bed closings.

The hospital network also is trying to save money by improving patient flow through the system, boosting transitional care in the community and reducing the overall length of patient stays.

“We’re going to be looking very closely at the opportunities to drive us to financial sustainability,” Trpkovski said. “I think we’re all really focused on what the right formula is for how to move patients through the system. We really have to think about the resources we have and how we optimize those resources.”

LHSC has about 1,010 beds at Victoria Hospital and University Hospital.

The bed closings – which represent nearly a five per cent reduction in bed capacity at University Hospital and Victoria Hospital – are the latest cut as LHSC tries to close a $53-million deficit this year.