Province turns to private sector to help meet P.E.I.'s long-term care needs

The Dennis King government is looking to the private sector to address immediate needs in long-term care on P.E.I.

Two weeks ago during his state of the province address, King announced 54 private long-term care beds would be added into the system as soon as possible.

In the P.E.I. Legislature on Wednesday, the premier said the province has asked private long-term care providers to add hundreds of additional beds.

"By doing this, by having 54 beds open as soon as humanly possible, we will make space within our hospitals to improve the bed flow, and beyond that, we've asked the [private long-term care] association to say how quickly can you rally to build hundreds more," he said.

"We're going to loan them low-interest money to do so."

P.E.I. government plans to add hundreds of private long-term care beds

6 months ago

Duration 4:23

The province is turning to the private sector to help address a need for more long-term care beds across the Island. CBC P.E.I. legislative reporter Kerry Campbell explains how and when that will happen.

King said the 54 new beds will open within 30 days of licensing approval from P.E.I.'s Community Care Facilities and Nursing Homes Board.

There was no information Wednesday on how long licensing will take.

Recent testimony at a legislature committee meetingrevealed that one in seven hospital beds on P.E.I. is occupied by a long-term care patient.

Having so many long-term care patients in acute care has caused trouble throughout the system.

Patients, for example, can find themselves stuck in the emergency department because there is no other bed in the hospital for them.

Need about 400 beds

When asked Wednesday by the Opposition whether the province plans to expand publicly owned long-term care, King said discussions will take place soon about adding beds in Tyne Valley.

The long-term care beds are pretty evenly split between private and public care. The province needs about 400 beds by next year just to maintain the status quo, according to an internal review.

Health Minister Mark McLane said the province reached out to private long-term care providers in the interest of time, but called the strategy a "two-pronged approach" to increase capacity.

"The private sector will most likely respond a little bit faster than we can. They have the resources they may be able to add on to their existing facilities, they may want to consider a new facility."