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David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @Kathryn98967631 and 49 others
Methinks Higgy and his mindless ministers figured out that most Maritimers would agree with the common sense of a cardiologist at the Dr. Georges-L-Dumont hospital and had better take his advice ASAP N'esy Pas?



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/vitalite-health-network-nursing-home-transfer-1.5391005



 #nbpoli #cdnpoli



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/long-term-care-assessment-hospital-senior-nursing-home-bed-1.5392061

Province makes changes to get seniors out of hospitals, into nursing homes faster

Department of Health will take over assessments from Social Development to 'streamline' process

CBC News · Posted: Dec 13, 2019 7:00 PM AT




Health Minister Ted Flemming said other changes he'd like to see to improve 'patient flow' in hospitals include offering procedures during evenings and weekends, and more discipline surrounding discharge times for patients. (Michel Corriveau/Radio-Canada)

The New Brunswick government is changing the assessment process for long-term care patients in the new year, in a bid to free up hospital beds and get seniors into nursing homes or other more appropriate levels of care faster.

The Department of Health will take over the assessment of alternate level of care patients in hospitals from the Department of Social Development, starting in April.

"Our objective is to improve the timeliness and efficiency of the assessment process for seniors and improve access to hospital beds for patients waiting for acute care services," said Health Minister Ted Flemming.

The move comes amid a string of service closures at Campbellton Regional Hospital, which have been linked to overcrowding because of the number of alternate level of care patients.

Streamlininig the process

Right now, assessments take, on average, 95 days, Flemming told reporters this week. "It's too long."

He believes that by moving the assessments over to the regional health authorities, which already have much of the required information in patients' medical files, the process can be "streamlined."
"It's a matter of patient flow," said Flemming, who had proposed the idea weeks ago.

The best time to do an assessment, he said, is when a person is ready to be clinically discharged from a hospital, when the patient no longer needs acute care but an alternative level of care, known in the health system as ALC.

"Hospitals are in the acute-care business," Flemming said. "Get in, get fixed, get out. They're not meant to be nursing homes."

Better for everyone

The longer patients wait in hospital, the more their health will deteriorate because they don't have the recreation and support they need, he said.

"If this can help speed up the line, then it's better for the ALC patient, it's better to reduce lines for people who are waiting for acute-care beds. So that's the rationale behind it.

"And it's no criticism of Social Development. It's just takes away a layer of bureaucracy that isn't needed."

• Campbellton obstetrical services suspended until Dec. 23

• Minister directs health authorities to solve service interruptions at hospitals

Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard said it's about ensuring seniors receive the care and support they need in the right setting and at the right time.

"By streamlining the assessment process for seniors waiting for home support services, services in a special care home or a nursing home, our goal is to improve the level of care they receive to ensure they maintain their independence as long as possible," she said in a statement.

Reduced service in Campbellton

The Social Development minister will continue to be responsible for the licensing of nursing homes and the management of the department's nursing home services branch.

The department will also continue to work closely with the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes.

In Campbellton, obstetrical services at the hospital will remain suspended until Dec. 23. Pediatric services will also be suspended from Dec. 3 to Dec. 5 and from Dec. 16 to Dec. 22.

Surgical and outpatient clinics were previously closed but have since resumed.

With files from Jacques Poitras

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices





25 Comments  
Commenting is now closed for this story.




Mark Worden
This is long overdue. Congratulations to Ted Flemming for leading the change on this.

Terry Tibbs

Reply to @Mark Worden:

Right.

David Raymond Amos

Reply to @Mark Worden: Teddy lead nothing His boss Higgy merely reacted to bad press about this nonsense 

 

David Raymond Amos
Methinks Higgy and his mindless ministers figured out that most Maritimers would agree with the common sense of a cardiologist at the Dr. Georges-L-Dumont hospital and had better take his advice ASAP N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/vitalite-health-network-nursing-home-transfer-1.5391005 

Vitalité Health doctors urge transfer of nursing homes to health system

Nursing homes are now the responsibility of Social Development

CBC News · Posted: Dec 10, 2019 5:20 PM AT



A staff shortage at the Campbellton Nursing Home has left beds empty. They can't be used to alleviate overcrowding at the Campbellton Regional Hospital caused by people waiting for long-term care. (Facebook/Campbellton Nursing Home)

Nursing homes should be managed by the health-care system, not the Social Development Department, say doctors with the Vitalité Health Network.

"All our hospitals in New Brunswick are overloaded," Dr. Luc Cormier said in a statement released by Vitalité's Medical Staff Organization.

The organization said it supports Vitalité's call for transferring the management of long-term care homes to the Health Department.

Hospitals in the Vitalité and Horizon networks have said too many of their beds are being taken up by elderly patients who don't need hospital care but are waiting for places in long-term care. The situation causes long waits elsewhere in the health-care system.

It's fairly unanimous that we truly believe that we can help improve the transfer of patients to longer-care and nursing homes.

- Luc Cormier, Vitalité Medical Staff Organization

"We need to find a better way to manage all the traffic," said Cormier, who is president of the Beauséjour zone of the staff organization.

"And a part of the solution is perhaps merging our different policies, mechanisms, so it's seamless as much as possible for seniors."

Nursing homes in the province are now the responsibility of the Department of Social Development.
Cormier, a cardiologist at the Dr. Georges-L-Dumont hospital in Moncton, was joined by the presidents of three other zones in the Medical Staff Organization.

He said the transfer of nursing homes to the health authorities would allow better management of the number of beds available in hospitals.

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He said at least 20 per cent of patients in Vitalité hospitals are on the waiting list for nursing homes. That represents about 60 or 70 beds that could be used for patients.

"We, on our end, do identify some reasons or some potential mechanisms to try to improve access to long-term care," Cormier said. "We know our seniors deserve better."

Some beds at nursing homes in the province are left empty because of staffing shortages, Cormier said, and that's one of the problems he wants to help solve.

Right now, patients can wait up to a year for a room in a nursing home, but the health networks want to help mitigate that, he said.


Luc Cormier, the Beauséjour zone president of Vitalité Health Network’s Medical Staff Organization, said patients can wait up to a year for a room in a nursing home. (Radio-Canada)

Among physicians, he said, "it's fairly unanimous that we truly believe that we can help improve the transfer of patients to longer-care and nursing homes."

He said it's a matter of co-ordination between hospitals and nursing homes.

"If all the policies are fairly transferrable because it's within the same Department of Health, for example, well then we know that the continuity of care will be better once they transfer back to the nursing home but also find mechanisms to try to relieve the hospitals of the overload of patients," he said.

CBC News asked to talk to someone at the Social Development Department.

With files from Information Morning Moncton, Radio-Canada

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices

 

35 Comments

Commenting is now closed for this story.

 

David Raymond Amos

Methinks that Dr Cormier would enjoy the irony in the fact that while he was voicing his concerns another cardiologist was stress testing my old heart at the Dr. Georges-L-Dumont hospital in Moncton N'esy Pas?  

David Raymond Amos

Methinks Higgy and his mindless ministers must understand that most Maritimers should agree with the common sense of a cardiologist at the Dr. Georges-L-Dumont hospital. Furthermore all my political foes must know that the folks working within Vitalité Health Network have provided me with fine service despite the fact that Higgy and his cohorts have denied my right to a Medicare card N'esy Pas?

Johnny Horton

Reply to @David Raymond Amos:

Shouldn’t have abandoned Canada and then came running back with your tail betweeen your legs.

Don’t like our laws, you are free to run away again,

David Raymond Amos

Reply to @David Raymond Amos: Oh My My Methinks a lot of folks are wondering who a certain conservative spin doctor is At least Deputy Premier Gauvin and his SANB buddies should agree that he has his nasty knickers in quite a knot today over senior health care issues N'esy Pas? 















 

Donald Smith

Their already messed up enough, why do this and Mess them up even more ???

Johnny Horton  

Reply to @Donald Smith:
So they can get the five hundred million we spend on them.

Lewis Taylor

Reply to @Johnny Horton:
really intelligent comment. taking care of seniors is like winning a lottery? you really should learn some things before spouting off here. it makes you look bad.

Johnny Horton 

Reply to @Lewis Taylor:
When money is involved, especially government money’s it’s always being fought over. The nursing homes are shuge chunk of the health budget, s lot of people want to get their hands on thst much cash. And will claim they csn do the job better to try and get the money.

It will never happen anyway. My OST nursing homes are runy non profits. They started off ideoendent. Government got involved. Complicated situations. It’s a mess who owns what now, but several nursing homes in the past few months have regained their independence and untangled themselves from the health authorities,

Having been tsngicslly involved in this process for decades, I am well educated in nursing homes.

David Raymond Amos

Reply to @Lewis Taylor: Methinks many would agree that people with dubious names always claim to know too much about everything N'esy Pas?