MaineGeneral hospital 'doing its best' amid bed shortage

In the four months MaineGeneral Medical Center's new hospital in north Augusta has been in operation, all of its patient beds have been full a quarter of the time. That bed shortage has created a challenge for staff when people come into the emergency room and need to be admitted to the hospital, officials said. Those patients are placed on hospital beds in emergency department rooms until beds open up on the floors, according to Chuck Hays, chief executive officer of MaineGeneral Health, the parent organization of MaineGeneral Medical Center.