N.S. adding 600 more single long-term care rooms to free up hospital beds

The Nova Scotia government says it will be adding about 600 more single long-term care rooms for seniors.

The addition will bring the total number of new and replacement rooms to 3,500 by 2027. Last year, the province also announced the addition of 600 new long-term care beds.

Of the 3,500 rooms, about 1,200 will be new rooms and roughly 2,300 will be replacement rooms.

The province expects the new rooms to free up hospital beds for surgeries or other medical treatments.

Currently, about 280 people are in hospital waiting for placement in long-term care.

In the meantime, under the QEII redevelopment plan, the government will create two transition-to-community centres for people waiting in hospital for long-term care and other community-based supports to stay temporarily.

The operating costs for each room will be about $140,000 annually.

"Too many seniors are in hospitals and at home waiting to get into long-term care," said Minister of Seniors and Long-Term Care Barbara Adams in a news release Wednesday.

"Adding more single rooms will help ensure we can meet this need now and in the future so that Nova Scotians can continue to rely on our long-term care system to provide the care they need, if and when they need it."

The province issued a request in February 2022 for qualified suppliers to build 500 new long-term care rooms in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The province says negotiations are underway with a number of selected companies, including:

• Gem Health Care Group
• Northwoodcare
• Rosecrest Communities
• Shannex Inc.

The locations of the new facilities, final distribution of the new rooms by facility, and other details will be released when the negotiation process is finished.

The province says recent spending in building the workforce, including recruitment, free tuition and textbooks for people studying to become continuing care assistants, as well as more funding for long-term care homes to hire more staff, will help ensure adequate staffing.

Each new long-term care room will be for one person and will include their own bathroom.

Currently, the province says about 8,000 Nova Scotians occupy the province's long-term care beds. By 2027, the province's long-term care system will have 9,200 beds.

Almost 22 per cent of Nova Scotia's population is aged 65 and older – the third highest percentage in the country. That number is expected to grow to 25 per cent by 2032.

At last check, nearly 2,000 people were on the long-term wait list.

The Houston government was largely elected on its promise to fix the province's health-care system.

Part of that promise was to renovate and build an additional 2,500 long-term care spaces within their first three years in power.

Although the NDP welcomes the additional rooms, the party says the announcement falls short of the PC's election promise.

"Now we hear that that was a misinterpretation of what they meant and that is not good enough," said NDP MLA for Dartmouth-North, Susan LeBlanc. "Quite frankly, when you are putting out a platform piece, you make sure that it is really clear."

Opposition Liberal MLA Kelly Regan says the additional rooms are not enough, but adds it is a step in the right direction.

"We are concerned about ensuring that there is enough staffing to staff the beds, so that's a concern of ours," she said.

The chair of the province's Seniors' Advisory Council says he welcomes the long-term care announcement and says coupled with expanded home-care programming, it can go a long way to clear the wait list.

"It's a significant step in the right direction. Is it enough right now? Nope. But it's a significant step," said Ron Swan.