Health care crisis continues, Liberal budget opens zero nursing home beds

HALIFAX - Today’s Liberal budget fails to invest in much needed nursing home beds for Nova Scotia. Over the past five years, 20 per cent of hospital beds have been occupied by patients in need of long-term care.

“With over 1100 people on the waiting list, and hundreds of seniors waiting in our hospitals, it’s disappointing to see the Liberal government refuse to open even one new nursing home bed,” said NDP Leader Gary Burrill. “Again, the Liberals have failed to hear the call from doctors, nurses, paramedics, and patients for help with the situation in our hospitals.”

Over two consecutive budgets the Liberals cut $8.1 million from nursing homes. While the government reinstated $3.2 million in 2017-2018, there is still nearly $5 million less for nursing homes than before the cuts. The 2018-19 budget also fails to restore funding cut from nursing homes.

“We have paramedics waiting hours to offload patients and people lining hallways, all because our hospitals are full of people who should be in nursing homes,” said NDP Finance Spokesperson Dave Wilson. “We can’t stop our population from aging. It’s not about if we’ll need to build new nursing home beds, it’s when. The Liberal government freeze on nursing home beds is just kicking the costs down the road.”

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