More Access to Long-Term Care in Port Hawkesbury

Seniors in the Port Hawkesbury area will have access to new, modern long-term care rooms with the replacement and expansion of the local nursing home.

The Port Hawkesbury Nursing Home is being replaced with a new 96-room facility that will provide care to an additional 42 seniors.

Allan MacMaster, Minister of Finance and Treasury Board and MLA for Inverness, on behalf of Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Barbara Adams, made the announcement at the home today, December 1.

“You can tell a lot about a society’s values by how they treat their most vulnerable citizens,” said Minister MacMaster. “These new state-of-the-art long-term care facilities will provide homes where Nova Scotians who have spent their lives growing our province can spend their last years living with dignity and respect.”

The new home is part of the recent addition of 2,200 rooms to the Province’s long-term care infrastructure plan. This plan expansion includes new long-term care homes that will add about 800 rooms to the long-term care system and the replacement of older homes with new, modern facilities that will have about 1,400 rooms. All these new homes are expected to be ready by 2032. The original plan included homes with about 3,500 rooms expected to be ready by 2027. Together, these new spaces will help to meet the care needs of the province’s aging population.

All new living spaces will be single rooms, each with its own private washroom. The government is contracting with several long-term care providers for new facilities and to replace existing ones.

More announcements about locations of new and replacement rooms will take place this month. Information and progress updates on all 5,700 rooms are available at: https://novascotia.ca/long-term-care-rooms-progress-updates/

Building and improving more long-term care rooms is part of Action for Health, the Province’s strategic plan to improve healthcare. Building and renovating new facilities with single-bed rooms and ensuring seniors live with dignity and can age well are also commitments in the Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister’s mandate.

Quotes:

“We are honoured to be the trusted partner with government in today’s announcement. Residents of Port Hawkesbury can look forward to another generation of their loved ones receiving safe, quality care in their community.”

– Ramsay Duff, CEO, MacLeodCares (owner/operator of the Port Hawkesbury Nursing Home)

Quick Facts:

• the long-term care infrastructure plan was announced in January
• current wait lists for long-term care spots vary across the province; as of November 15, there were just over 1,700 people waiting at home for placement in long-term care
• of those waiting at home, more than 70 per cent receive home care
• seniors make up close to 22 per cent of Nova Scotia’s population; this is expected to climb to more than 25 per cent by 2032
• the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment, Department of Seniors and Long-Term Care, and the continuing care sector are working together to recruit the staff needed to support the delivery of care that will be required for these new rooms

Additional Resources:

News release – Province Adding, Replacing More Long-Term Care Rooms: https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20231120001

News release – First Long-Term Care Replacement Home Opens: https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20230929006

News release – Construction Beginning on Long-Term Care Homes in Central Zone: https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20230517001

News release – Province Building More Long-Term Care Rooms: https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20230111001

Action for Health, the government’s plan for transforming the healthcare system: https://novascotia.ca/actionforhealth

Mandate letter for the Minister of Seniors and Long-Term Care: https://novascotia.ca/exec_council/letters-2021/ministerial-mandate-letter-2021-SLTC.pdf