New Brunswick's child, youth and seniors' advocate is launching a sweeping review of the province's long-term-care system.

Kelly Lamrock says he wants to examine the shortage of workers, how the sector is governed by an array of standards, and why so many seniors are waiting in hospitals for spots while vacancies exist.

"It just seemed like all of it required a significant, systemic review," Lamrock told reporters.

"This'll be a chance to really bring people together and take a long hard look at the kind of things that move us from just managing it at a crisis level to saying, 'Where are we going to go as our number of seniors continues to expand?'"

Lamrock's review will be independent but the province is helping fund the $150,000 cost, which will allow him to bring on extra researches beyond what his small office already has.

He'll also name an advisory council and hold public meetings, all with the aim of having a report ready by October.

Not prompted by Neguac incidents

He said the review was not prompted by the recent provincial revocation of operating licences for two special care homes in Neguac.

His office can investigate specific circumstances like that when they're out of the ordinary, but the challenges facing the sector go beyond a single home or incident.

"If anything, it's been depressingly normal to see folks not getting the care they need in a place they need." 

Lamrock said a guiding principle of his review will be that New Brunswickers have the right to age in "the least institutional, most community-based way possible." 

He'll examine the impact of seniors getting alternate-level care in hospitals not designed to serve them, managed by the Department of Health, while the privately managed homes they are waiting to get into are regulated by the Department of Social Development.

"One of the challenges is portability across departments. Are we still managing in silos?"

Horizon Health estimates that around 30 per cent of acute-care beds in its hospitals are occupied by people who don't need hospital care but are waiting to get into long-term care.

Jan Seely, president of the New Brunswick Special Care Home Association, said 800 beds are available in the province now — more than the number of people waiting for care.

But she said it's more complicated than a one-to-one equation because some homes offer different levels of care for different kinds of people.

"It's not that simple," she said.

  Jan Seely, president of the New Brunswick Special Care Home Association, said there are 800 beds available in the province now — more than the number of people waiting for care. (Vanessa Blanch/CBC)

"There's many barriers that exist. There's policy. There's the assessment process. There's people not understanding our level of care." 

She said Lamrock's review should help.

"I think it's very important," she said. "We support it wholeheartedly as a board."

Former hospital and long-term care administrator Ken McGeorge said the long-term care system has been "a hodge-podge for sure, for many years — pockets of excellent and pockets of concern."

He said a review is long overdue. 

Former hospital and long-term care administrator Ken McGeorge said the review is long overdue. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

"It's my hope personally that this will be the time when we really get the real issues on the table, not the political issues, not the pretend issues, not the things that make you feel good, but the real issues."

Liberal MLA Robert Gauvin, the party's critic for seniors and long-term care, also welcomed Lamrock's initiative as a way of addressing myriad growing challenges. 

"This is happening right now, and we need to take care of this," he said.

He said he plans to introduce legislation in the spring to address a shortcoming of the province's oversight of special-care homes exposed by the Neguac situation.

While the minister of social development has the legal authority to put a nursing home with management problems under a trusteeship, that authority doesn't exist for special-care homes.

MLA Robert Gauvin is the Liberal Party’s critic for seniors and long-term care. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Gauvin said his bill would try to correct that.

The Neguac revocations affected 29 residents, though since the province's move, one of the two homes, Villa Neguac, has been bought by a new owner.

The Department of Social Development said Monday that it has issued a new temporary operating permit to Villa Neguac that will allow it to stay open.

Canada's Health Standards Organization recently published new national standards for long-term-care homes, part of a response to high death tolls during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Those standards, however, are voluntary.

Lamrock said his review will look at those standards.