Plans for aging Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital to cost $242M to $366M

A proposal to renovate and expand the Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital could cost about $242 million, while tearing down the nearly 60-year-old building and constructing a new one could as much as $366 million.

Both options would take at least 15 years to complete, according to a Vitalité Health Network master plan on the future of the aging hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Kent, about 60 kilometres north of Moncton.

Vitalité submitted the 275-page report to the Department of Health last month and Marco Ouellette, Vitalité's senior director of infrastructure, recently presented highlights to the Kent Regional Services Commission's health committee, composed of elected officials and residents.

The report, prepared with the help of a Quebec-based consulting firm, outlines the current situation in Kent County, looks at projected needs and provides an analysis of the two scenarios being considered for the hospital, which opened in 1966.

Scenario 1

Scenario 1 includes major renovations to the existing building, said Ouellette. This includes expansion of emergency and outpatient services, as well as diagnostic and therapeutic services at the location of the current parking lot.

Parking would be moved to the front of the building and new spaces added, for a total of 268 spots.

A new "community services pavilion," offering services such as primary care, public health, mental health, and hemodialysis, would be built at the front of the site, on the south side, with a dedicated 55-spot parking lot.

The medical unit with short-stay hospital beds, rehabilitation services and pharmacy would be moved to the second floor.

Minor renovations would also be required for certain services, such as food services and linens.

The work would be completed in four phases over more than 15 years at an estimated cost today of $216.5 million, or $242 million with inflation.

Although this scenario involves maintaining the existing building, it's considered more complex because temporary arrangements would have to be made to maintain services during the renovations and the structure would have to be brought up to seismic standards, said Ouellette.

There is also a risk of unforeseen events related to the conditions of a building, such as the presence of asbestos, the report states.

Scenario 2

Building a new two-storey hospital, which would also include a community services pavilion, but on the north side, would take less time than renovating — between 10 and 15 years in three phases, according to the report.

It would also be more expensive — an estimated $325.4 million today, or $366.3 million with inflation. But this option offers new spaces that meet current standards, noted Ouellette.

In addition, it would be less disruptive to hospital activities, as the new hospital would be built in front of the current one, and would allow for phased development of parking behind the building, with a total of 279 spaces.

MLA seeks decision soon

Benoît Bourque, the Liberal MLA for Beausoleil-Grand-Bouctouche-Kent, who was among those who attended the meeting, said he believes both scenarios should be considered.

At first glance, he said the idea of ​​a new hospital is interesting, but noted it's often easier to sell the government on a project that costs less, such as a renovation.

He hopes a decision will be made quickly, he said, so that the focus can be on other pressing issues at the hospital.

"We must not forget the short-term, which is immediately problematic at Stella-Maris," Bourque said in French. "The emergency department is suffering — there is no acute care."

The hospital has had no acute care beds for the past year because they were converted to palliative and long-term care beds, because of a shortage of medical resources. Although Vitalité officials said the measure was "temporary" and expected to last only "a few months," patients from the emergency department or the community who require hospital admission continue to be transferred to the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton.

Patients must also travel to the Dumont to access certain services, including CT scans, dialysis and oncology services.

The Department of Health is reviewing the report.

Older, more vulnerable population

Kent County has a population of nearly 34,200, but that could increase by more than 9,000 by 2044, with a third of the population being aged 65 or older, according to the report.

"From a socio-economic and health portrait point of view, the population of the county of Kent is older, but also more vulnerable than the average population of the N.B.," it states in French.

Almost a quarter of the Kent County population has three or more chronic health conditions, it says.

In addition, the region has lower physical activity levels than the provincial average, higher obesity rates, a higher incidence of cancer, higher tobacco use among youth and the elderly, and higher alcohol and cannabis use, particularly among young people.

The number of emergency room visits is expected to jump from 20,221 in 2019-20, to 21,880 in 2034, and 24,510 in 2044.

More beds, ER stretchers needed

According to the projections, the Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital will need 24 short-stay beds by 2044, up from 20, and nine ER stretchers, up from five.

The hospital has been overcapacity for at least the past five years. As of 2022-23, the most recent data provided, it was at 114 per cent occupancy.

All 20 short-stay beds, plus three overflow beds, were occupied daily that fiscal year, the report shows. About 16 of them — or nearly 70 per cent — were occupied by people known as alternate level of care patients, who are awaiting long-term care placements, such as a nursing home.

Nearly 10 per cent of people who visited the ER in 2022-23 left without receiving medical treatment, up from 3.4 per cent in 2019-20. The average wait to see a doctor also jumped to 138 minutes, from 84 minutes, during that same period.