N.B. needs more nursing home beds: doctor

New Brunswick is going to need even more nursing home beds than the nearly 300 being planned over the next five years, says a Saint John family doctor.

Mike Simon's comments come on the heels of a report released this week by the Alzheimer Society of Canada, which predicts the number of patients with dementia will double over the next three decades.

The province is already struggling with nursing home patients tying up about one-third of the province's hospital beds while they wait for a nursing home bed, said Simon.

'From a medical perspective, what do we do with these patients we're trying to keep safe and care for? Where do they go? What do they do?' —Dr. Mike Simon

It's creating huge problems for the health-care system and the situation is only going to get worse, he said.

"We're having surgeries cancelled. We're having people wait in the emergency room for days and hours to be admitted. We're having patients being put up in corridors and lounges because there aren't any beds on the floor.

"What do we do when we double that amount? From a medical perspective, what do we do with these patients we're trying to keep safe and care for? Where do they go? What do they do?"

On Dec. 3, the province announced it plans to spend $400 million to add about 300 new beds to the system over the next five years.

The plan, described by Brian Kenny, the minister of state for seniors, as the largest and most comprehensive ever undertaken for nursing homes in New Brunswick, includes two new long-term care facilities in Neguac and Dieppe by 2016-17.

About 53 of the 62 non-profit nursing homes across the province will also be replaced, expanded or renovated, he said.

In the Saint John health region alone, which stretches between Sussex and St. Stephen, about 200 seniors are on waiting lists for a nursing home bed.

The number of people with dementia in Canada will more than double to 1.25 million by 2038 as society ages if no changes are made, according to the report commissioned by the Alzheimer Society of Canada, entitled Rising Tide: The Impact of Dementia on Canadian Society.

The total costs associated with the mind-robbing disease could also reach $153 billion a year by 2038, adjusting for inflation, up from the current $15 billion a year, the report states.