Great care continues with change in Transitional Care Unit: Hospital CEO

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

The decommissioning of the Transitional Care Unit at Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital (a site of Rural Roads Health Services) will see great care provided in the manner it was prior to the unit opening, in a new bed distribution model.

The Transitional Care Unit opened on April 1, 2025 as a temporary solution for patients needing to move into long-term care, a retirement home, needing extra care before returning home or to another care location. The 12-bed unit received temporary funding from the Ministry of Health. It closed on Sept. 1.

The intention was to decommission the unit once the Hospital to Home program was fully operational and more local long-term care (LTC) beds became available. The opening of the new PeopleCare facility in Tillsonburg has provided more LTC beds in the community.

Nadia Facca, CEO/President of Rural Roads Health Services, explained patients will continue to be cared for in the hospital within their funded bed complement, in a new distribution model.

“TDMH will return to 50 funded beds, redistributed over three of our medical-surgical floors,” she said.

The space, previously occupied by the TCU will continue to be in use, meaning that all patient rooms in the hospital will become private or semi-private, and there will be no more ward beds.

Staff in the TCU were employed under temporary contracts.

“The hospital will follow applicable collective agreement and normal labour relations processes with respect to affected team members,” Facca said.