BILL NO. 83

(as introduced)

3rd Session, 62nd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
66 Elizabeth II, 2017

Private Member's Bill

Health Authorities Act
(amended)

The Honourable Chris A. d'Entremont
Argyle–Barrington

First Reading: April 25, 2017

(Explanatory Note)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

This Bill defines "code census" and requires the provincial health authority to publish certain information weekly.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Chapter 32 of the Acts of 2014, the Health Authorities Act, is amended by adding immediately after Section 60 the following Section:

60A (1) In this Section, "code census" means a period when an emergency department is overcrowded with patients due to a lack of available beds within the hospital to which it belongs.

(2) The provincial health authority shall post weekly on a website operated by the provincial health authority

(a) how many times a code census was called at a hospital for which the authority is responsible and at which hospitals the code censuses were called;

(b) how many patients were placed on in-patient floors during code censuses and in what types of rooms those patients were placed;

(c) how many patients requiring an alternative level of care or long-term care are in hospital beds awaiting placement at hospitals for which the authority is responsible;

(d) how many people seek treatment at the emergency department of the Halifax Infirmary each day;

(e) how often and for how long ambulances waited at the emergency department of the Halifax Infirmary to offload patients; and

(f) how many surgeries were cancelled at hospitals for which the authority is responsible.