UMass Memorial has waiting list for ICU beds, as field hospital is no longer an option

Photo | Grant Welker A patient room awaiting use at the former field hospital at Worcester's DCU Center.

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By Katherine Hamilton

UMass Memorial Health in Worcester said on Thursday it has no available intensive care unit beds throughout its entire system due to increased patient volume and staffing shortages, said UMass Memorial spokesman Anthony Berry.

Five patients throughout the UMass Memorial system are currently waiting to be transferred to ICU beds, Berry said. The system includes hospitals in Worcester, Leominster, Southbridge, Marlborough, and Clinton. The increase in inpatient volumes has included a spike in patients with and without COVID-19.

Boston 25 News reported the ICU bed shortage at UMass on Tuesday.

The shortage of beds is a regional challenge, after Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester closed 100 beds in August, blaming the six-month-long strike by the Massachusetts Nurses Association union. On Wednesday, the Saint Vincent medical staff published an open letter to striking nurses, calling for them to end the strike amid staffing shortages and long wait times for patients.

Setting up a field hospital at the DCU Center in Worcester is no longer an option, Berry said, due to staffing shortages. UMass led the opening of the DCU field hospital in the spring and fall of 2020 when coronavirus cases spiked in the region.