Patients in four New Brunswick hospitals who are waiting for a nursing home bed will be given priority over the next 30 days.
The social development minister on Wednesday approved a request by Horizon Health for critical state admission prioritization.
It will apply to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton, Upper River Valley Hospital in Waterville, Saint John Regional Hospital and Miramichi Regional Hospital.
“This is not something our government does lightly. We understand that there is an exceptional need,” Social Development Minister Cindy Miles said in a news release.
The move comes one day after the regional health authority said it was dealing with an “unsustainable” record number of patients waiting in the hospital for long-term care placement.
RELATED: Horizon Health asks province for help to free up hospital beds
President Margaret Melanson said they had 667 alternate-level-of-care patients last week, which has since fallen slightly to 658 patients — around 40 per cent of Horizon’s acute care beds.
More than half of those patients could be discharged today if there were long-term care beds available for them, Melanson told reporters on Wednesday.
“Fundamentally, there is simply not enough long-term care capacity available across the Horizon geographic area,” she said.
“The other issue that is very compelling is that this number is occurring in July, when we would typically see numbers peak more traditionally in the fall period.”
Melanson said they needed to act urgently to ensure they have enough beds available during respiratory virus season, which is typically in the fall and winter months.
How many patients will be discharged?
Exactly how many patients they will be able to discharge in the next month is hard to predict, she said, because it all depends on how many long-term care beds become available.
During a similar temporary prioritization in early 2024, Horizon was able to discharge 23 patients in Saint John and 52 in Fredericton, though Melanson noted that a new nursing home had just opened at the time.
“I would hope that the numbers that we have seen, 23 in Saint John, could be mirrored perhaps in the Fredericton area, with of course fewer in Miramichi and most likely fewer in the Upper River Valley area,” she said.
Melanson noted that The Moncton Hospital is in a “less severe” situation as she believes there are more long-term care beds available in that region.
In the meantime, she said discussions are continuing with the departments of social development and health as they look for other available strategies for patients to be discharged.
“It is also giving us time to look at the possibility of any other space that we can possibly have available to be prepared for the fall period of time,” Melanson added.
The president and CEO said patients will likely experience longer than normal emergency room wait times at the impacted hospitals and encouraged those with non-urgent issues to consider other options.
New Brunswick currently has 78 licensed nursing homes with 5,373 beds, with another 180 beds currently under construction. There are also 431 adult residential facilities offering care and services to about 7,600 residents.
