University Hospitals reduces inpatient beds due to staff shortages

University Hospitals has reduced the number of inpatient beds and reassigned caregivers from its Bedford and Richmond hospitals to other, higher volume UH hospitals.

The two hospitals will now have 14 inpatient beds each, and UH Bedford will no longer have operating rooms. 

The changes are to make sure UH hospitals have adequate staff, officials said in a statement.

Hospitals in Northeast Ohio and around the country are dealing with staffing shortages due to high turnover rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and sick workers who have to quarantine. 

Earlier this week, Summa Health reduced inpatient beds at its hospitals to deal with staffing shortages. 

"UH remains committed to serving the health care needs of our Bedford and Richmond Heights communities, where UH has a long and continuing presence," UH officials said in the statement. "Our emergency departments, outpatient offices, diagnostic testing and imaging, non-invasive cardiology testing, and the medical-psych unit at UH Richmond are unaffected by the staffing reassignments."

These staffing changes will prevent the hospital system from having to stop elective procedures.

"When we stopped elective procedures in the spring of 2020, we saw there were real health outcomes for our community," said Dr. Robyn Strosaker, chief operating officer of UH Cleveland Medical Center, in a previous interview with Ideastream Public Media. "We saw patients present with last-stage strokes, heart disease, cancers, and we feel that this may have adversely impacted their health outcomes."

The changes are for an indefinite period of time, the statement said, and UH will continue to monitor staffing needs throughout its health system.