N.B. health minister hopes to release plan to reform health-care next month
New Brunswick's health minister says change is coming – and the roadmap will come in the form of a healthcare reform plan she says will be released by late October.
Horizon Health Network has been under the microscope in recent months, plagued by staffing shortages, long wait times and complaints about the quality of care.
On Wednesday, the child and youth advocate's office released a report focused on youth mental health – and the death of 16-year old Lexi Daken.
The Fredericton-area teen died by suicide despite trying to get psychiatric help from the Fredericton Everett Chalmers emergency department.
A review found that ER staff had no formal training or resources for working with mental health patients – and that the teen was never given a suicide risk assessment or safety plan before she went home.
The report also said some psychiatrists on-call are "reluctant" to come in after midnight unless it's a serious situation, and follow-up care with community mental health was inadequate.
During a committee hearing, Horizon's vice president community Jean Daigle, acknowledged the report – and said they are trying to make improvements.
"Physical improvements, touch-points, hand-offs," he said. "What we've introduced to our staff is the notion of a warm transfer, meaning that when someone presents to the emergency department with that kind of distress, it is important for the various parts of the mental health system to be connected."
He said they have challenges recruiting – including child psychiatrists. But trauma-informed training for all staff began in June – and the Chalmers emergency department has added an area for those in mental distress – that's away from the general waiting room.
"This is not just your job, or your job, it's our job to look after this individual that presents in crisis."
Horizon Health has a budget of $1.2 billion, 13,000 staff and 12 hospitals.
Dorothy Shephard said Thursday she had to make changes to its leadership, because the organization needs to be healthy – and "whereby the employees that are in it are satisfied."
"I don't think moral is very good at either one of our RHA's to be completely honest," she said. "Not only do we need Vitalite and Horizon working arm and arm, we need Ambulance New Brunswick, extra-mural, 811, we need this system to be seamless. That's what I'm striving to do."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
Ukraine uses long-range missiles secretly provided by U.S. to hit Russian-held areas, officials say
Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
BREAKING Manitoba government tables bill to end ban on homegrown recreational cannabis
Manitoba is planning to lift its ban on the home growing of recreational cannabis.
All Alberta wildfires to date in 2024 believed to be human-caused: province
There are 63 wildfires burning in Alberta's forest protection area as of Wednesday morning and seven mutual aid fires, including one in the Municipal District of Peace.