Construction work halted on Restigouche hospital interior

Work on the interior of the Restigouche Hospital Centre has stopped, raising further questions about the future of psychiatric facilities there.

The work was being carried out at the hospital annex, which was to house a youth mental health facility.

That facility was scheduled to open later this year, but the plan was put on hold after Ombud Charles Murray's report into the adult psychiatric hospital at the centre.

In his report into the adult psychiatric hospital released in February, Murray outlined "significant mistreatment" of patients, adding patients there had been the victims of "mistreatment and inadequate care."

Alysha Elliott, a spokesperson for the Department of Health, said construction on the exterior of the annex will continue.

"The construction firm has been directed by DTI to pause construction inside of the building until a final decision is made with respect to the future of the Centre of Excellence for youth," said Elliott in an email.

Dalhousie Mayor Normand Pelletier is upset at the decision to stop construction work on the building's interior.

He said health services are concentrated in urban centres in the south of New Brunswick and he has a hard time accepting that.

He said keeping the youth centre in Campbellton makes sense since there is already an adult facility there and that collaboration between the two is possible.