Which hospital hallway is safer for patient beds? Seriously, is that the question?

Well here's a new one: hospital and fire officials are meeting in Sudbury to determine if it is okay to keep patients in hallway beds on medical floors, according to a report from the Sudbury Star.

Apparently, some believe it may be safer to keep surplus patients in the hallways of medical floors rather than the hallways of Emergency Rooms.

Two senior doctors have complained that recent hospital bed closures were hurting ER operations, including Hospital chief of staff, Dr. Chris Bourdon. Bourdon says solutions proposed two or three weeks ago haven't done much to ease ER pressures, adding that although the ideas were great "when you look at them in depth, they're recycled ideas and enhancements of what we've already done."

The Star reports that fire officials have expressed concerns about patients being placed in hallways.

But there have long been complaints that patients were placed in inappropriate places due to overcrowding at the hospital.

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