Some New Brunswick seniors could be moved out of hospitals and into emergency long-term care beds under a new plan unveiled by the province’s premier last week.
But a constitutional lawyer believes the plan, outlined in a revised mandatory provincial order, lacks clarity.
The plan states the ministers of health and social development “are expressly authorized to move long-term care patients and residents as they deem necessary in light of COVID-19 risk, including between Level 2 and Level 3 care, and their decisions are hereby shielded from judicial review and from civil liability.”
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Premier Blaine Higgs announced Friday that 160 beds had been identified for the plan.
Jan Seely, the president of the New Brunswick Special Care Home Association, said those beds will be within the special care system.
She said about 35 of New Brunswick’s 400 special care homes are able to provide high levels of care for clients with dementia and other frailties.
Seely said those facilities would be among the first to be considered for emergency beds.
“Only homes that already have the skill set and the staff-to-resident ratio and the clinical oversight will be considered for this initiative,” Seely said.
Constitutional lawyer Lyle Skinner, a New Brunswick-native working in the Ottawa-area, is concerned about how the plan was developed.
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“If you speak to a New Brunswicker who has a loved one in long-term care,” Skinner said, “And you told them that if there was a situation caused by government of gross negligence related to their care, they would not be able to sue for compensation or any damages, I think New Brunswickers would be very surprised to hear that.”
As an example, Skinner said emergency measures surrounding catastrophic events like flooding have start and end dates, but it’s not clear how long the new clause in the order will be in effect.
He also said people are still allowed to take the government to court if they see fit, despite the wording of the clause.
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Seely said the program is good news for New Brunswick’s overwhelmed health system. She wants the emergency long-term bed program to lead to further collaboration.
“It’s not a new solution,” Seely said. “It’s been brought to government many years ago. But as COVID has shown in many instances, this has fast-tracked many initiatives that have been in the queue for far too long.”
In an email statement to Global News, Department of Social Development spokesperson Rebecca Howland said details of the plan are still being developed.
“Emergency long-term care beds are intended as a short-term measure for patients that are waiting in hospitals until a bed in their preferred location becomes available,” Howland said. “These emergency placements offer people a home-like alternative to wait for their preferred nursing home. Homes that have active COVID-19 responses or outbreaks will not be considered for emergency beds until they are cleared by Public Health.”
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