New Brunswick·Updated
Horizon Health Network says the change is “not optional” as hospital overcrowding prompts safety concerns.
Health authority says hospital overcrowding has reached ‘unsustainable’ level
Savannah Awde · CBC News
· Posted: Jan 23, 2026 3:04 PM EST | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago
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Patients will no longer be able to wait in the Moncton Hospital for a preferred nursing home bed, Horizon’s CEO said on Thursday. (Guy LeBlanc/Radio-Canada)
Patients waiting for a nursing home bed at the Moncton Hospital are now required to accept the first available space — even if it’s not their first choice.
Until now, these patients have been able to decline a nursing home bed and remain in a hospital bed until space opens up in a nursing home they prefer.
Known as alternate level of care, or ALC, patients, these patients were, as of Tuesday, occupying 36 per cent of Horizon Health Network’s bed space provincewide.
CEO Margaret Melanson said on Thursday Horizon started requiring patients to move out of the hospital when a bed is free within a certain distance at the start of January.
“They would be required to accept this nursing home bed offer to them while waiting for transfer to their home of choice,” Melanson said.
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