New Brunswick’s senior 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 closer look at how the sector is working and not working.
“It’s really about getting people together and taking a long hard look at the kinds of things, just managing it at a crisis point to say where we’re really going because the number of our seniors The expansion continues,” he said.
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A 12-person advisory committee of experts and stakeholders will be put together in the coming weeks and the advocate’s office will also launch a public consultation process.
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 regulate long-term care under the Department of Health, which can lead to disruptions and delays in the passage of seniors through the hospital, home care and long-term care systems.
Lamrock says he is also concerned about chronic recruitment and retention issues in the care sector, as well as the number of seniors waiting for long-term care placement in hospital, which adds to much-needed resources for the province’s acute care system.
“Getting people to the right kind of place at the right time isn’t just about the long-term care system, it’s also about the urgent care system and so we think there’s a real need to get these questions and get this report out.” There is urgency,” he said.
The review is being welcomed by health care management and aging expert Ken McGeorge, who was co-chair of the New Brunswick Council on Aging.
“I am not aligned politically in any way, but in a succession of governments, as you can see on the shelves, a seniors report or a long-term care report. It seems to be the fashionable thing for governments to do.
“It’s my personal hope that this is the time we actually get real issues on the table — not political issues, not pretend issues, not things that make you feel good, but real There are issues.”
Liberal social development critic Robert Gavin says he is pleased to hear the review has been launched and says the system needs to be reformed to provide choice and respect to those who are aging.
“Seniors have to live in hospitals, not their choice, seniors can no longer buy their own homes, not their choice, seniors have to go to homes because they have no one to take care of them, not their choice,” he Said.
“It’s a question of choice and I think those seniors deserve it.”
The province recently suspended the operating licenses of two specialized care homes in Neguac. Social Development Minister Dorothy Shepherd said the province had limited capacity to step in and take over those facilities. A buyer has come forward and plans to reopen them, but Lamrock says the situation bears the test as well.
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