The NWT needs fewer long term care beds than it previously forecasted.
New projections from the NWT Bureau of Statistics say only an additional 169 Long Term Care beds will be required by 2034, a number far less than the 435 required beds identified in the 2015 projections for this same time frame.
Minister of Health and Social Services Julie Green says the new projections will help better use of GNWT resources to meet the needs of seniors who require specialized care in the years to come.
“The most recent modelling used for the updated projections by the Bureau is based on 10 years of NWT LTC data and aligns with the best practices in establishing the evidence-based demand for care.”
Back in 2015, the GNWT had only five years of long-term care data, and used a ratio-based model of people in need to population.
Green says the department decided to update these numbers last summer and that staff worked with the Bureau to redo the estimate of long-term care beds required over the next 14 years.
“Our projections now tell us the NWT’s long term care bed use is 72 per 1,000 people age 70 and older as compared to the 115 per 1,000 people age 70 and older used for the earlier projections,” adds Green.
Long-term care beds have been added in Norman Wells and Behchoko since the 2015 projections.
