Kim Adair-MacPherson is the auditor general of New Brunswick. (Submitted/Office of the Auditor General)
The Auditor General feels the province is failing to address nursing home demands.
In her report today, Kim Adair-MacPherson says by 2036 the number of seniors in the province over the age of 75 will double, “Failing to implement nursing home plans and obtain the needed services for seniors. A severe shortage of available placements will occur, and there will be growing pressures on hospitals and related costs and inadequate care for growing number of vulnerable seniors will result.”
She says if improvements aren’t made, this will result in a crisis.
Adair-MacPherson says nursing home waitlists have increased from 540 seniors in 2016 to 773, “About half of those are waiting in hospital and occupying acute care beds. The chart also shows that there has been no improvement in the number waiting at home, or those waiting in special care homes.”
Adair-MacPherson adds the province has only added 299 beds in the past five years.
“I was disappointed to find significant delays in the implementation of nursing home plans since our 2016 report. In my view, the province is failing to address the nursing home capacity demand. The province is not ready for the increase in seniors requiring placement in a residential facility,” Adair-MacPherson said.
The report found that although the Department of Social Development did develop a 10-year aging strategy in consultation with the Department of Health, it failed to develop an appropriate implementation plan. Furthermore, the findings indicate a lack of reporting of useful information against the aging strategy and nursing home plan by the department.
The auditor general made five new recommendations and restated an existing recommendation from her 2016 report addressing issues in the areas of reviewing the nursing home plan, the development of performance indicators with specific targets, and public reporting.
