New BrunswickNew Brunswick premier says many seniors and their families are rejecting placements, possibly because of the distance.50 seniors have been placed in homes since 30-day fast track beganSam Farley · CBC News · Posted: Aug 01, 2025 5:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoWhile the province has temporarily given seniors in hospitals faster access to spots in nursing homes, Premier Susan Holt says hundreds have refused placements. (Shutterstock)About 50 seniors have been moved from hospital beds into nursing homes since the province began a 30-day fast-track period giving them priority, Premier Susan Holt said Friday.”But those 50 spots were immediately backfilled by more people … and so the numbers are going up and up,” Holt said in an interview on Information Morning.Horizon and Vitalité health networks have said many beds at some hospitals are being taken up by seniors who have no medical reason to stay in hospital and could be better served in nursing homes or other community care.The fast-track approach, which started in mid-July, was adopted to try to free up hospital beds for people who needed them for medical reasons but might be taking up beds in emergency rooms instead.Holt said in the interview that her government has taken a number of initiatives “to tackle this very thing,” but there have been 700 refusals of offers to move seniors to long-term care beds. A provincial spokesperson later clarified that number includes people at home who have also refused to move, and it might not be possible to determine exactly how many people in hospitals alone have refused. Spokesperson Kate Wright wrote in an email that there were 777 refusals made by 452 patients between March 2024 and March 2025 across the province.”That number includes both patients waiting in hospital and those in the community,” Wright wrote.Holt says 50 seniors have been moved from hospital beds into nursing homes since the 30-day fast track began, but they have quickly been replaced by more. (CBC)Holt said that it’s understandable some seniors would decline to move.”Families want to be close to their loved ones and sometimes the bed available is not in their preferred location or preferred home,” Holt said.Nursing home admissions are normally done according to who requests a placement first.However, the minister of social development can prioritize admissions when a regional health authority asks.The province is booking into “policy adjustments” that Holt said would allow seniors to remain on wait lists for their preferred placement while they’re moved into an initial location outside the hospital. WATCH | It’s ‘understandable’ that seniors don’t want to move far from families, premier says:Province considers extending fast-track for seniors in hospitalA 30-day measure to free up beds in some New Brunswick hospitals does not appear to be working, as seniors reluctant to leave their home communities opt not to jump the waitist for long-term care placement. She said the province is “having conversations” with the health networks about extending the 30-day fast track for getting seniors in hospitals into nursing homes.CBC News has asked Horizon Health for clarification.But the premise of seniors declining a placement because it’s too far away makes sense to Alphonse Dionne, president of the New Brunswick Senior Citizens Federation.”I know if I was in that situation, I wouldn’t want to be 100 miles away from my family,” Dionne said. “I would want to be near family and friends. You can quote me on that one.”Finding right placement is complex, industry saysAnd while Richard Losier, CEO of the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes, said he wasn’t aware of the 700 figure, he said finding seniors the right placement is complex.”There is a clear lack of understanding when you go to a special care home or a nursing home, it’s your home,” Losier said. “It’s not an extension of the hospital, it’s where you go to live.”Richard Losier, CEO of the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes, says seniors don’t want to live in care homes far from their communities. (Michel Corriveau/Radio-Canada)”If you’re from Stanley or you’re from Oromocto, you don’t want to move to Woodstock or elsewhere.” Losier said the 30-day fast track for seniors in hospitals has bumped some seniors waiting at home from their preferred locations. If the time period is extended, as Holt said her government is looking into, Losier worries that that some families might get desperate and bring their seniors into the hospital.”If you’re taking care of your parent, and you get bumped all the time because somebody from the hospital gets first crack, well, guess what you’re going to do.”Family members may also objectCecile Cassista, executive director of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents’ Rights, said her group always encourages seniors in hospitals to transfer to a care home.”Hospitals are there for sick people, not for people, you know, just languishing, waiting for placement,” Cassista said. But she is aware of seniors declining placements for issues relating to distance or cost, she said. Cecile Cassista, the executive director of the Coalition for Seniors New Brunswick, says, distance and cost are reasons seniors might decline an offer to move. (Ian Bonnell/CBC)”It’s very difficult to transfer seniors once they get into a location,” Cassista said. “They’re quite happy. “And it’s the family members who are the ones that basically say, ‘Well, I don’t want to travel to Shediac or I don’t want to travel, you know, to Hillsborough.'”But Cassista said her coalition wants to see the province put more resources into home care, along with nursing and other care homes.”[Seniors] don’t want to go into these institutions. They want to go home, but obviously they can’t go home because we don’t have the services to provide them an opportunity to go home.”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
Many N.B. seniors have declined nursing home placements, Holt says
