Tackling hospital overcrowding is never easy, but Carol Young-Ritchie, vice-president and chief nursing officer for London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), is looking to a new discharge lounge as a potential solution. In January, LHSC’s University Hospital opened the new lounge to get home-bound patients out of in-demand beds while they’re waiting for rides. “The main goal of this is to help us with our access and flow issues,” says Young-Ritchie. “We certainly want to move patients through our system as quickly as we can…(and the space) helps us to clean the bed faster and get the next patient who needs acute care into that bed.” The lounge is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week, and is staffed by a registered nurse and other allied health professionals. As part of the three-month pilot project, managers will evaluate how effective the lounge space is at getting new patients in beds faster. (The Chatham Daily News and London Free Press, Jan. 5)