By Canadian Press

N.S. premier defends health-care changes, calls for a ‘reimagining’ of care

Jun 27, 2018 | 3:30 PM

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil is defending his government’s sweeping changes to health care in Cape Breton, saying the status quo is no longer acceptable.

“We’re a generation that’s been given an opportunity to shape how we deliver health care for the next 50 years,” McNeil told reporters Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.

“We can accept that or we can continue to fight it.”

Rather than pay for aging infrastructure with escalating capital costs, McNeil said the province has examined the best way to deliver care.

“We knew there would be a lot of capital costs associated with continuing to shore up what we already have,” he said.

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Instead, McNeil said the province “reimagined” what health care could be if the money was invested in a new delivery model rather than maintaining aging bricks and mortar.

“I do realize there are some who felt there wasn’t enough consultation … but at some point decisions have to be made,” McNeil said.

The province has announced plans to close two hospitals and expand two others, while also building two new community health centres and long-term care facilities.

Northside General Hospital in North Sydney, N.S., and New Waterford Consolidated Hospital will be closing, and the new facilities will be built in their place.

In addition, emergency departments at Cape Breton Regional Hospital and the Glace Bay Hospital will be expanded.

The changes have been met with criticism in Cape Breton, with politicians booed at the news conference while announcing the changes on Monday.

McNeil said he understands if there is uncertainty related to the new model, but he insisted the changes would be a significant improvement over the status quo.

“We believe we’re building the appropriate infrastructure today to help us attract health-care teams into those communities to continue to make sure we provide access to primary health care, and we’re bolstering the emergency services in those communities,” he said.

The emergency rooms of the two hospitals slated to close both shut down unexpectedly last year for thousands of hours, he said.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere in this province, or quite frankly in Canada, where you would have four ERs that close together,” McNeil said, adding that the four hospitals were within roughly a 30-minute drive of each other.

Nova Scotia NDP Leader Gary Burrill said no one questions that a new path is needed for health care in Cape Breton, but he called the Liberal government’s approach “arrogant and high-handed.”

He also acknowledged that the province has faced challenges keeping local emergency rooms open, but called it a “pathetic” policy to close hospitals rather than find solutions to keep them open.

The province is also launching a program in which Cape Breton paramedics will do home visits with patients after they leave the hospital, in an effort to reduce trips to the emergency room.

Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press