Liberal MLA expresses concern over patients with dementia being moved around QEH

The P.E.I. government needs to put together a proper plan for a group of patients diagnosed with dementia at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown, says Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly.

McNeilly raised the issue in question period in the legislature Tuesday.

"I'm worried about them. You can't move dementia patients without a plan; you have to know what's happening because it takes years off their lives," McNeilly said in an interview following the session.

"I'm very concerned about these patients and their families. It's a very stressful time as it is."

The patients had been in Unit 9, a psychiatric ward.

That ward was emptied last spring to make room for potential COVID-19 patients. As months went by on P.E.I. with no COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization, people with dementia waiting for space in long-term care homes were moved into the unit.

By last fall, 17 such patients were in the unit, but they have since been moved out.

McNeilly asked Health Minister Ernie Hudson Tuesday where the patients were now. Hudson said he would come back to the legislature with that information. 

A later statement from the province said the patients with dementia have been moved to Unit 3 at the Charlottetown hospital. It said this medical nursing ward is "more appropriate and allows more efficient use of staff resources."

The statement also said that these patients are best served outside hospital and that the province expects beds to open up in the community in the coming weeks for these patients.

McNeilly said he is concerned about how long it is taking for these patients to get the care they need, calling it symptomatic of the province's lack of a plan for dealing with people living with dementia.

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