Photo: Getty Images
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Tufts Medical Center is converting its 41 inpatient pediatric hospital beds to care for adults, as local hospitals groan under the strain of the Omicron wave.
The parent company of Tufts Medical Center, Wellforce Health System, said the need for adult ICU and surgical beds is growing. The children that Tufts would have treated at the hospital will instead be directed to Boston Children's Hospital starting on July 1, if regulators approve of the collaboration.
Tufts Children's Hospital, originally started as the Floating Hospital for Children, has been open since 1894.
Tufts Medical Center's 40-bed neonatal ICU will stay in operation, and will continue its pediatric primary care services. Wellforce said the changeover means between 1,800 and 2,000 more hospital discharges a year for BCH. Wellforce said several hundred doctors and other workers who work at the hospital would be "affected" by the bed closure, and it would help them "consider Wellforce’s 2,000 open positions, as well as vacant jobs at Boston Children’s Hospital."
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App