Five youth psychiatric beds will be added to the Saint John Regional Hospital to address a gap for young people in the city who need comprehensive mental health care.
“It was identified as a gap for services for youth having access close to home to a psychiatric unit like this one,” Robert McKee, the minister responsible for addictions and mental health services, said at the announcement Monday at the hospital.
“Oftentimes they would have to travel to other cities, other hospitals to get that service.”
A government news release said Saint John has no beds for youth in need of psychiatric care.
As a result, young people who must be hospitalized are admitted to ordinary pediatric units or adult psychiatry units or transferred to facilities elsewhere in the province.
New Brunswick is spending more than $6 million on an in-patient psychiatric unit for children and youth at the Saint John Regional Hospital.
CBC News asked the Health Department and Horizon for specific numbers on how many people are admitted to other facilities as a result of lack of beds but the information wasn’t available on Monday.
The new unit — which will be constructed in the existing hospital building — will provide “immediate, specialized, trauma-informed treatment,” according the news release. The idea is have patients “receive care while maintaining family and community connections.”
The construction of the space will cost the province $6.3 million. Patients would be admitted to the facility by referral.
McKee said that the province settled on five beds by working with regional health authorities saying it was “the magic number for to meet the needs of the community here in Saint John.”
Horizon president and CEO Margaret Melanson said the beds should be available by “mid-2026” and would see roughly 50 patients or more per year.
“These are typically lengthy admissions, not just overnight stays or very short stays,” Melanson says.
She said this is to have a supportive plan in place prior to a patient’s discharge — an approach that takes time and also means fewer children coming through. She said there will not be hard limits on how long a patient can use a bed.
“No one wants children to be in hospital for a longer period than necessary,” she said.
“That said, we cannot set an absolute limit on the length of the admission because honestly. Some of the circumstances with these children are complex and extremely difficult to navigate.”
Melanson said that the proposal to the province “was for additional staff to be associated with these new beds”. She says Horizon is hopeful that staffing budget will be included in the coming year’s spending plans.
For those who need comprehensive care
Dinesh Bhalla, Horizon addiction and mental health physician program lead, said the unit is for those who need comprehensive care.
“The children who are admitted usually either have psychosis, severe behavioral problems and drug use and suicide [risks]” he said
“So these patients need time away to be stabilized and that could include medication, psychological assessments. It’s an ongoing care.”
Health Minister John Dornan said a building isn’t enough.
“It will require nurses, physicians, psychologists, and we have a very good team here that hourly gives a lot of this care,” he said.
“When it comes time to admit a patient … we do have a lot of resources today. They just don’t have the right place to work.”
Dornan said the unit will be dedicated to those who are “not quite kids” and also “not quite adults”. There is no targeted age range and aim is to help teenagers, young adults and other young people.
“I’ve seen first hand people that fall between the cracks. They spend time in the emergency department. They spend time on a floor that has five year olds spent time in a floor that has adults with more chronic problems. So this will fill that gap.”
The province — through former governments — aimed to build a youth mental health centre in Campbellton in 2015. Plans were changed in 2019 to build it in Moncton instead. To date this youth centre has not opened.
“That one is something that was announced a long time ago and it was actually delayed and relocated under the former Conservative government,” McKee said.
“There’s eight beds that are up in Campbellton now. There’s going to be an additional eight beds in Moncton for that Centre for Excellence and that’s slated for the middle of 2027 opening.”
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