Royal Inland Hospital has been overcapacity with patients for the past two weeks, resulting in beds lining the halls and doctors having to rejig their surgical slates.

Hospital administrator Marg Brown said Wednesday the situation is the worst she's seen since she's been at Royal Inland.

"We've had some significant challenges in the last couple weeks," she said.

"We spent a lot of time trying to sort things out.

RIH has 224 beds, eight of which are for babies in the neonatal unit, another eight in intensive-care and six in the ICU's step-down unit.

In the past two weeks, the hospital has been overcapacity by as many as 70 patients, Brown said.

"We have been caring for patients in unfunded beds and in the hallways," she said. Those unfunded beds are in empty rooms that don't have staff assigned to them. Staff are asked to watch them, regardless.

"I don't have the money to pay for staff, but we do it anyway," she said.

The congestion requires constant updating and flexibility in terms of finding space for patients while trying to discharge those who can go home or to another facility. Ponderosa Lodge opened up 15 convalescent beds in November, aimed at helping ease some of RIH's wintertime congestion.

"We change our plans constantly as it fluctuates," said Brown.

Extra staff are brought in to cope with the additional patient load, but that can also be a challenge as they get sick from seasonal flu or exhaustion from working so many more hours.

There isn't any one particular illness that's causing the congestion; Brown said patients are suffering from pneumonia, cardio-vascular problems, seasonal injuries such as from skiing, and other typical ailments. Some patients are requiring more than the usual amount of care.

"It's a bunch of things happening simultaneously," she said. Typically, the hospital is busiest between November and March.

"It's very tiring on the staff. It's hard on the patients," she said.

"People are generally gracious, but it's hard on them."

As she spoke to The Daily News Wednesday night, 13 patients were in the hospital's halls waiting for a bed in a room.

Brown noted the hospital got money in September to open an extended day-care unit. It's where surgical patients who require 24 hours or less in recovery time can go until they're ready to leave. It's also where patients with no other bed options are being kept under a watchful eye these days.

Preventive measures that will keep people from needing to go to the hospital in the firstplace are needed, she said. But until more of that happens, she said people can turn to their family physician, or the province's 811 nursing hotline.

When it comes down to it, however, Brown urged people who need care to go to the hospital. Just be prepared there could be a long wait.

Brown was at a meeting in Kelowna Wednesday and heard similar stories from other hospital administrators. RIH isn't alone.

"There's a lot of attention being paid toward this in Interior Health," she said.

"Everybody's struggling right now."