Horizon CEO says 13 more clinics in development in N.B., finding space a ‘limiting factor’

Horizon Health CEO Margaret Melanson is seen in front of a legislative committee. (CTV/Laura Brown)

Horizon Health CEO Margaret Melanson confirmed the health-care system is under more strain since, over the last year, 40,000 people have been added to the waitlist for a primary care provider.

Melanson was in front of a legislative committee Thursday, answering MLA’s questions on the state of health care within the Anglophone health network.

About a third – 238,000 New Brunswickers – are now waiting to be attached to a nurse practitioner or family doctor.

Melanson said health-care staff continue to see the impact of that reality on hospital emergency departments, but she said she’s encouraged by the number of collaborative care teams being established.

“We believe this evolution of physicians and nurse practitioners working side by side with allied care providers to be able to provide that comprehensive wraparound care delivery to patients is the way of the future,” she told MLAs.

She said, within Horizon jurisdiction, seven care teams are now operational – and 13 more are in development.

Of those that are operational, some have been provided funding to expand – so they’re renovating a new, larger space, which Melanson says has taken time.

She listed Saint John, Charlotte County, Moncton, Florenceville, Tantramar, Miramichi and a clinic on Fredericton’s northside as areas where existing clinics are currently operational but expanding so they can pull more people off the waitlist.

Melanson also said another location is soon to be announced in Miramichi, and a team is being established in Petitcodiac scheduled to be open in early 2027.

“We have 9,643 patients attached to family health teams to date with phase two plan an additional ten family health teams that we have in the queue for this, 26-27 fiscal year,” she said.

She told MLA’s the ‘limiting factor’ has been finding space that can meet the standards of a health clinic, but they’re working ‘as hard as possible’ to open clinics quickly.

In total, Horizon had 46 health centres existing today.

Melanson said recruitment and retention has stabilized, with 96 more physicians joining the network, and 132 registered nurses, over the last year.

She said the new contracts have been helpful when recruiting.

Chalmers hospital wing to open in the spring

Green Party leader David Coon asked several questions about overcrowding at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton.

The Chalmers Hospital was built in the mid 1970s. A $250-million addition to the hospital began in 2016 and was supposed to be open by now. Maternal and newborn care, surgeries and ambulatory procedures will move to the addition once completed.

Melanson confirmed that wing will be open in the spring.

“It’s nearly finished and I believe the keys are being turned over to us in the next month,” she said.

Coon read a letter he received by a man whose father has been in a bed within the Chalmer’s emergency department for four days, waiting to be moved to the unit he should be treated in.

The letter notes chaos, a lack of organization and communication within the hospital.

Melanson took responsibility, saying this is an example of the ‘flow challenges’ happening in the overcrowded hospital.

As of Feb. 8, the hospital was at 103.2 per cent occupancy, with 34.2 per cent of the beds occupied by alternate-level-of-care patients: people waiting for long-term care.

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