New Brunswick’s seniors advocate is launching a review of the province’s long-term care sector and will provide recommendations in October.
Kelly Lamrock says it’s time to take a hard look at how the sector is working and not working.
“This is to really bring people together and take a long hard look at the kinds of things, to just move from managing it at a crisis point to saying where are we really going to go as our number of seniors continues to expand,” he said.
A 12-person advisory committee of experts and stakeholders will be put together in the coming weeks and the advocate’s office will launch a public consultation process as well.
One of the primary issues under study will be how senior care is regulated in the province. New Brunswick is one of the few jurisdictions that does not place long-term care under the Department of Health, which can lead to snags and delays as seniors pass through the hospital, home care and long-term care systems.
Lamrock says he’s also concerned by the chronic recruitment and retention issues in the care sector as well as the number of seniors waiting for long-term care placements in hospital, which ties up resources needed for the province’s acute care system.
“Getting folks the right kind of space at the right time isn’t just about the long-term care system, it’s also about the urgent care system and that’s why we think there’s a real urgency to getting these questions and getting this report out,” he said.
The review is being welcomed by Ken McGeorge, an expert in health-care management and aging who was a co-chair of the New Brunswick Council on Aging.
“I’m not politically aligned in any way, but a succession of governments have had, as you can see on shelves, a seniors report or a long-term care report. That seems like the fashionable thing to do for governments,” he said.
“It’s my hope personally that this will be the time when we really get the real issues on the table — not the political issues, not the pretend issues, not the things that make you feel good, but the real issues.”
Liberal social development critic Robert Gauvin says he’s happy to hear the review has been launched and says the system needs to be reformed to provide choice and dignity for those who are aging.
“Seniors have to stay in hospitals, not their choice, seniors can’t afford their homes anymore, not their choice, seniors have to go in homes because they don’t have anyone to take care of them, not their choice,” he said.
“It’s a question of choices and I think those seniors deserve that.”
The province recently suspended the operating licences at two special care homes in Neguac. Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard said the province had limited ability to step in and take over those facilities. A buyer has come forward and plans to reopen them, but Lamrock says that situation does bear examination as well.