Hospitals deployed official ‘last resort’ status 1,600 times this year

The most drastic action or “last resort” available to hospitals when dealing with emergency department (ED) overcrowding has already been deployed 1,600 times this year.

The Full Capacity Protocol (FCP), the final step in hospitals’ escalation plans where additional beds are placed in wards and hallways, rather than packing patients into overcrowded EDs, is being used by some hospitals on an almost daily basis.