‘Concerning weaknesses’ in the province’s plan to add thousands of nursing home beds by 2032.
That’s according to Auditor General Kim Adair’s latest report, which makes 10 recommendations.
The plan is for 5,700 new beds, Adair says the department isn’t properly monitoring nursing homes under construction.
In a video, Adair said 4,000 beds were not competitively procured, and offered to existing nursing home owners.
“We recognize the department’s position in supporting existing service providers in the community, however, the key components used to rationalize the decision to offer contracts to them first could just have easily been addressed while following the current procurement act,’ said Adair.
Adair said Nova Scotians need to know their tax dollars are delivering the best value.
“Last fall, the Province had a waitlist with more than 1,800 Nova Scotians looking for a nursing home bed. With such urgent need, the plan to create thousands more beds is an important one,” says Adair.
The province has agreed all of the recommendations, and will implement half of them by the end of the month.
