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Horizon Health isn’t getting into the long-term care business, according to a vice-president, but the network is planning to open hospital space that looks as close as possible to a nursing home.
The health authority recently announced plans to add nursing home beds to its hospitals — but Greg Doiron, vice-president of clinical operations, later clarified the goal is to transform full hospital units to mimic the “home-like” environment of long-term care.
“Many of our acute care units don’t have recreation therapy support to provide stimulating activities for patients so that they can socialize and maintain … their mental and emotional and spiritual well-being,” Doiron said.
“We don’t have those resources, typically. So that’ll be an investment we’ll make as we create … shared spaces like shared dining rooms where patients will will eat together and socialize and play games and get to know one another.”
WATCH | Why a health authority is creating hospital space in the style of long-term care units:
Horizon to make some hospital space look and feel like a nursing home
Horizon Health Network says the temporary step is necessary because there aren’t enough long-term-care beds in communities for every hospital patient waiting for one.
That will mean moving some hospital services out into community spaces, in order to make room for these long-term care-style units. And they’ll include communal spaces as one might see in a real nursing home.
“Really, nursing homes are communities, and hospitals, where you spend the entirety of your time in a bed, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner off your bedside table, sometimes in a hallway with no privacy, no dignity — no, we’re trying to reset that,” Doiron said.
Greg Doiron, Horizon’s vice-president of clinical operations, said the change will be temporary as the province adds capacity to the long-term care system. (Zoom)
“This is while we wait for these patients to get to the places they really deserve to be, which is in nursing homes.”
Doiron calls the step a temporary measure to address overcrowding in hospitals.
That’s largely driven by the number of alternate level of care patients in acute care beds — those who are waiting for a nursing home bed.
Horizon recently said anyone in this position would be given no choice but to take the first available nursing home bed.
But even with this change, Doiron said the challenge persists, and elderly patients are spending time in “non-traditional spaces” like hallways, storage rooms, and even a former ambulance bay.
David Arbeau, Horizon’s clinical executive director, said last week there would be 180 beds offered in these units across the network in the coming year. (Submitted by Horizon Health)
“We have approximately 300 patients at Horizon today who, if a nursing home bed was available in community, could be discharged,” he said in an interview.
“So, for us, it was really about, how do we create an appropriate environment of care for those patients?”
The Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton will be one of several hospitals to offer these nursing home-style spaces. (Pat Richard/CBC)
Doiron said starting this year Horizon will begin shuffling some services out of hospitals. While the exact changes aren’t finalized, he said ambulatory care and administration are likely candidates for the move.
He anticipates the first nursing home-style space will be operating in late 2026 or early 2027.
During a board meeting Thursday, Horizon’s clinical executive director, David Arbeau, said there would be about 180 beds across the network allocated to this project this year — 60 in Fredericton, 60 in Saint John, 40 in Moncton and 20 in Miramichi.
While Horizon initially said in the meeting that “government funding is pending” for the project, Doiron clarified that it will be funded within the network’s existing budget.
That’s despite programs for seniors typically being the purview of, and receiving funding from, the Department of Social Development.
Seniors Minister Lyne Chantal Boudreau was not made available to answer questions about why the department isn’t involved this time.
“We look forward to learning more about Horizon’s plans and receiving the details directly so we can fully assess what they are putting forward,” said a statement sent by the department on behalf of Boudreau.
Margaret Johnson is the PC MLA for Carleton-Victoria and the Official Opposition house leader. (Oliver Pearson/CBC)
Boudreau noted a recent announcement that the province will add 624 beds to the system in the coming years.
Progressive Conservative MLA Margaret Johnson said the plan is a step forward for seniors, and addresses urgent pressures hospitals are facing.
“Let’s get the ball rolling, because up until now there’s been really no sense of urgency,” Johnson said.
“I think we have to remember that, even putting these great initiatives in place, these are short-term fixes, right? Because we don’t ever want family members to use acute care as their landing space for long-term care delivery.”