New BrunswickNancy Anderson’s husband, Doug Forbes, is currently in a transitional care unit at the hospital in Oromocto, N.B. Despite her husband being first on the list for several nursing homes, Anderson said he hasn’t been placed. ‘He is being overlooked at this point,’ says wife of man with Lewy body dementiaSam Farley · CBC News · Posted: Sep 06, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoNancy Anderson has been advocating for her husband to be place into a nursing home after he’s been in hospitals waiting for 15 months. (CBC)The shortage of nursing home beds in New Brunswick is personal for one Fredericton area couple. Nancy Anderson’s husband, Doug Forbes, has been waiting for over a year to get into a nursing home. He’s currently in a transitional care unit at the hospital in Oromocto, N.B. His long wait comes as the province has been working to move people out of hospital beds and into nursing homes as a way to make room for patients who need urgent care.Last month, Horizon Health told CBC News that 39 per cent of its hospital beds are occupied by patients waiting to be placed in nursing homes. Forbes, 75, has Lewy body dementia, which has symptoms including loss of memory, judgment and reasoning, and changes in mood, behaviour and communication abilities.Last May, he fell and broke his hip, which landed him at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, Anderson said. Once there, Anderson said they were told he could be placed on a list for a nursing home. “We decided to do that. And at the time I was thinking, ‘OK, I’ll put his name on the [list] but when he heals well enough and he’s strong enough, I’ll bring him home and he can wait it out at home,'” Anderson said in an interview with Information Morning Fredericton. “But that didn’t really happen.”Transitional wardForbes was at the DECH for about seven weeks when Anderson said she was approached with the possibility of moving him to a transitional ward. “I was told that it would be a better situation for him, that the staff were more trained for people with dementia and cognitive issues, and it was just a better environment for him,” she said.He was transferred to the hospital at Oromocto, about 21 kilometres away, where Anderson said his room had no windows or sink.Horizon Health said in August that 39 per cent of their hospital beds are taken by patients waiting to be placed in nursing homes. (Shutterstock)Forbes then fell again and broke his hip. He was sent back to the DECH for two weeks before returning to Oromocto.”He got much stronger after the first time [in Oromocto], but the second time he didn’t and he had a lot of anxiety. He did not want to be in that hospital,” she said.While staff “do the best with what they have,” Anderson said the Oromocto hospital is an older facility and his needs were not able to be met.When she and her family were not able to be there visiting, Anderson said he would be placed in a type of chair that is comfortable but locks when a patient is put into it. “I think mostly he was left there,” she said.Anderson said she would commute to Oromocto after finishing work, often returning home around nine or 10 p.m. and then waking up at six a.m.”That went on for a long time until like, you know, exhaustion kind of hit and I knew I had to back off some,” she said.After contacting the patient advocate, Anderson said her husband was assigned a personal care worker from an outside agency to come in and help with his care.But throughout the process, she knew where her husband should have been.”The best facility for him is a nursing home. The doctors keep telling me that. The nurses keep telling me that. The managers at the nursing home keep telling me that,” she said.Not among patients being prioritizedDespite her husband being first on the list for several nursing homes, Anderson said he hasn’t been placed. When the province moved to prioritize patients from the DECH and other hospitals for nursing home placements, Forbes had already been moved to Oromocto and missed out, she said. “So if Doug had not moved to Oromocto, he would be in [a nursing home] now with the care that he needs,” she said. The temporary prioritization for placements out of hospitals has been made a permanent power for the Minister of Social Development.Anderson said she feels lost.”It just seems a little bit not right that he is being overlooked at this point, almost like shelved,” she said.”He is trying to use his voice in an inappropriate way and it doesn’t go well for him when he does.”While Anderson said she is obviously pushing for her husband’s case to be resolved, she hopes speaking out will also advocate for other patients in similar positions.Province has new plan coming, spokesperson saysCBC News requested an interview with the Department of Social Development, but was sent an email statement in which spokesperson Ariel Mackenzie said the department would not discuss specific cases.”Government recognizes that seniors do not want to be waiting in hospitals, and that’s why departments are working together with the Regional Health Authorities to ensure seniors get the right care at the right time — when they need it most,” Mackenzie wrote.She described the new process where the minister can prioritize patients in hospitals for placements and said the province is developing a long-term care plan this fall, but did not give any details.Mackenzie said the province currently has 78 licensed nursing homes with 5,373 beds. There are 180 more spaces currently under construction. ABOUT THE AUTHORSam Farley is a Fredericton-based reporter at CBC New Brunswick. Originally from Boston, he is a journalism graduate of the University of King’s College in Halifax. He can be reached at sam.farley@cbc.caWith files from Information Morning Fredericton
N.B. man has been waiting in hospitals for nursing home bed for 15 months
