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The McGill University Health Centre has shut down its geriatric acute-care ward at the Montreal General Hospital. The ward had been shrinking: In early 2015, there were 28 geriatric acute-care beds at the Royal Victoria Hospital. That was reduced to 25 in March 2015, then down to 15 and – transferred to the Montreal General – when the Royal Victoria moved to the brand new Glen Site. 

The cuts mean the highly specialized, integrated team of nurses, doctors and other professionals that used to watch over the frailest patients is now dispersed. "We hope that these nurses will progressively influence how things work on different services," said Morais. "Plus our team will be there and working with them and making the hospital develops the right approach to that frail population." The doctors will still follow patients and the out-patient clinic is still functioning, he said. But Morais acknowledges that with more than 30 per cent of admissions being geriatric, no single ward was going to be able to care for them. He said health care professionals in all divisions will need to learn to manage geriatric conditions such as incontinence, dementia, mobility issues and nutrition.