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Pilot project ‘did not achieve’ significantly reduced wait times: government
Published Feb 22, 2026  • Last updated 13 hours ago  • 4 minute read
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Oromocto Public Hospital was one of two Horizon facilities that participated in a pilot project involving long-term care assessments. Hospital staff were were tasked with performing these assessments instead of relying on staff from the Department of Social Development. BRUNSWICK NEWS ARCHIVESArticle content
Horizon and Vitalité health networks will take over long-term care assessments for their patients from the provincial government despite the results of a recent pilot project.
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In January 2025, Horizon touted the early success of the project that was designed to streamline the placement process for senior patients waiting at the Fredericton and Oromocto hospitals for a bed in a nursing or special-care home.
Hospital staff took over long-term care assessments for these patients – a task typically performed by staff with the Department of Social Development and that can be a bottleneck in freeing up acute care hospital beds.
These assessments are critical to determining the level of care a patient needs once they’re discharged from hospital.
According to preliminary results, Horizon saw a 57 per cent improvement in the percentage of alternate level of care patients awaiting long-term care assessments in the first few months of the pilot project.
The average length of patient stay also dropped by 11 days.
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But the now-completed pilot project didn’t ultimately achieve its goal of significantly reducing wait times, according to the province.
Despite this, the New Brunswick government has decided to transition long-term care assessment responsibilities to both regional health authorities.
Health-care professionals will now take over long-term care assessments at other hospitals, starting with the Saint John Regional Hospital, The Moncton Hospital and the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton, in addition to the Fredericton and Oromocto hospitals.
“While the pilot did not achieve its intended goal of significantly reducing assessment times or patient length of stay by transferring hospital assessment responsibilities from government staff to hospital staff, it provided valuable insights and highlighted other benefits that will inform the next steps of this initiative,” government spokesperson Ariel Mackenzie said in an email.
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Brunswick News asked the government why it’s proceeding with handing over all long-term care assessments to the hospitals if the pilot project didn’t significantly reduce assessment times or length of patient stay.
The newspaper also asked for specifics about the “valuable insights” and “other benefits” gleaned from the pilot project.
The initiative provided “valuable insights into assessment processes, patient flow and service coordination,” while “additional benefits” included a “stronger collaboration among partners and improved alignment between hospital and community-based supports,” according to government spokesperson Kate Wright.
“While hospital staff are focused on strengthening and streamlining hospital-based assessments, government and community partners are also concentrating on preventative measures that help reduce the need for hospital visits in the first place.”
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Hundreds of Horizon patients waiting for assessments
More than 200 Horizon patients are currently awaiting long-term care assessments and are not on the province’s nursing home waitlist, according to Margaret Melanson, president and CEO of Horizon Health Network.
In the case of the Saint John Regional Hospital, Melanson said there are more than 80 patients awaiting an assessment, so “for us to be able to undertake those assessments ourselves as opposed to waiting for Social Development to come in and undertake that is a step in the right direction.”
“Is it creating more beds? No,” Melanson recently told reporters. “However, it is allowing us to understand what the needs are of these patients faster and to understand where they prefer to be in terms of home availability and for us to be able to work with them to get them there more rapidly.”
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Almost 1,000 people were on New Brunswick’s nursing home waitlist as of the end of January, according to provincial data shared by the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights.
Seniors’ advocate Cecile Cassista would like to see an outside organization like Extra-Mural take over hospital-based long-term care assessments.
She doesn’t believe either the Department of Social Development or the regional health authorities – the latter of whom have a “bias” to get people out of hospital – should be involved in the process.
“I’ve always been saying that Social Development should not be involved,” said Cassista, executive director of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights.
“It should be a nurse and Extra-Mural was one of the ones that I suggested for that. They’re trained for that.”
About 40 per cent of Horizon’s acute beds are currently occupied by ALC patients, according to Horizon. This represents more than 660 patients.
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A new long-term care strategy is expected to be released this month amid ongoing calls for more nursing homes to be built in the province.
Horizon is hopeful for the construction of more nursing home beds through the upcoming strategy, but Melanson pointed out it can take up to two years for a new home to open.
She recently made the case to a legislative committee for the better utilization of special-care homes in the province and other options to take the pressure off hospitals.
“If government would agree to fund more hours of care for patients to return to their own homes, that could be undertaken very quickly,” Melanson later told reporters.
In December, the Holt government announced $10 million to make home care support more affordable for seniors and those with disabilities.
In addition to this, Mackenzie highlighted that New Brunswick hospitals “have the authority to implement interim home support hours when it supports a timely discharge, allowing long-term care assessments to take place at home,” and that the government continues to cover surcharges for ALC patients “when cost is a barrier to accessing placement in a special care home.”
“Government will continue working closely across the departments, with the regional health authorities and community partners, to ensure seniors receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time, as staffed placements become available.”
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