Gov’t Working To Address Nursing Home Waitlist: Minister

New Brunswick’s social development minister says the government is working to address the nursing home waitlist as quickly as possible.

Dorothy Shephard is responding to recent concerns raised by the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights.

The coalition’s executive director, Cecile Cassista, said she was alarmed to see 817 people waiting for a nursing home bed.

“That’s the highest I’ve ever seen them,” Cassista said during an interview in August.

Shephard said they know the waitlist will keep growing as the province’s population ages, noting the issue is not new.

She said the government’s nursing home strategy will continue to add more beds throughout the province.

“Later on this year in Miramichi, we’re going to have 16 new beds available,” said Shephard. “We have two new 60-bed nursing homes that are currently under construction in Fredericton and Moncton.”

Special Care Homes

In addition to building new beds, Shephard said they need to educate medical professionals about special care homes, which she said are underutilized.

“They deliver a tremendous service, they have higher staffing levels per person, they can do many of the things that people are waiting for in nursing homes,” she said.

Shephard said they also want to work with nursing homes which may not be operating at an optimal level to get more beds open.

“By being strategic, I believe that we can help to alleviate some of that pressure, but we can’t forget that there will be more coming behind them,” she said.

Cassista said one improvement to the situation would be moving seniors under the Department of Health portfolio.

But Shephard disagreed and said she believes seniors are managed quite well under the Department of Social Development.

“I think that if you put seniors under health, then you will find the only way to a nursing home will be through the hospital,” she said.

“I think that we want to minimize the hospital stays, we want to ensure that we can take care of our patients in a quality of life surrounding that they deserve, and hospitals are not that.”