Lengthy waits for nursing homes are stressing Nova Scotia hospitals, NDP says
HALIFAX — New data show some Nova Scotia patients are languishing in hospital for a year or more waiting for a spot in a nursing home, clogging up the province’s hospitals, the NDP says.
The party released figures from the Nova Scotia Health Authority in the legislature Wednesday, indicating 2,281 people waited in hospital for placement in long-term care between 2012 and 2017.
The documents, obtained in a freedom-of-information request, show the hospital waits during that period lasted anywhere from 91 to 365 days, while 123 people waited in hospital beds for more than a year.
“Over the last five years 718,230 bed days in our hospitals were used for people who were not hospital patients at all, but were waiting for placement in a nursing home,” NDP Leader Gary Burrill told the legislature.