Premier doesn't rule out building new long-term care beds

Premier Stephen McNeil says he's open to increasing the number of long-term care beds in Nova Scotia.

There are 7,855 beds in the province, including 6,928 in nursing homes and the rest in residential care facilities.

On Friday, the NDP released information showing that in the last five years, 21 per cent of acute care beds in the province were occupied by people waiting in hospitals for a long-term care placement.

That prompted NDP Leader Gary Burrill to call on the Liberals to add more beds.

"Certainly it's well past time for them to make a move," Burrill said.

"The difficulty in Nova Scotia is we haven't made a small or an adequate investment; we have made zero investment — zero beds over a five-year period. So, no wonder our hospitals are plugged up with people that are waiting for placement in places that aren't even there."

A focus on home care

Since first forming government in 2013, the Liberals have focused on boosting support for home care. The government has poured millions of dollars into efforts to keep people in their homes for longer, essentially eliminating the wait-list for services and, in turn, reducing the wait-list for a long-term care bed by about 50 per cent.

McNeil said the decision to first address the needs for home care was based on what his party was hearing from the public.

"It's [clear] from every Nova Scotian that talked to us that they wanted to be at home."

'Appropriate care in the appropriate place'

Still, the premier acknowledged that for some people, staying at home simply isn't appropriate and he said assessing the need for more long-term care beds is happening as the government redevelops the entire acute-care system.

The goal is to provide "the appropriate care in the appropriate place," said McNeil. That could lead to the first long-term care beds built by this government.

Argyle-Barrington MLA Chris d'Entremont, a former Tory health minister, said many of the calls he and his colleagues field are from people either trying to find a long-term care bed for a loved one or find one closer to where they live.

D'Entremont noted the last continuing care strategy called for more long-term care beds and the update of that strategy is overdue.

"It was supposed to come out last year," he said. "We have yet to see it, so I'm hoping there will be a consideration for new beds in the system."