The New Brunswick government could have been better prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the province’s auditor general.

Paul Martin released the first part of his report on the provincial government’s pandemic response on Thursday.

Martin said New Brunswick reacted quickly with “unprecedented measures” aimed at saving lives, including the province’s first state of emergency.

But he said there are several areas the province could make improvements in order to be better prepared in the future.

Martin said the lessons that were learned from the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 were not incorporated into an updated provincial pandemic plan.

“Staff interviewed during the audit work told us that preparing for a pandemic response was not seen as a priority,” Martin told a committee of MLAs on Thursday.

Martin’s report identified that roles and responsibilities of executive committees were not always clearly defined or documented.

He also found the group of senior officials who supported the COVID cabinet committee, also known as COVID Core, kept no meeting records.

“Expedited processes were established to increase the speed with which information was brought forward to cabinet for pandemic-related decisions,” said Martin.

“We found six instances out of 14 sampled restrictions in mandatory orders where public health measures were supported by verbal updates only.”

One mandatory order had to be changed the next day after decision-makers asserted that it did not reflect the intended decision.

Nursing home investigation

Martin’s report also looked into nursing homes and found the province did not ensure they were prepared for a potential pandemic.

The auditor general said pre-existing issues like staffing challenges played a critical role in the impact of the pandemic.

Required staffing ratios include 15 per cent registered nurses, 20 per cent licensed practical nurses, and 65 per cent resident attendants.

“We reviewed inspection reports for 30 nursing homes and noted non-compliance pertaining to staffing ratios rose from 30 per cent to 87 per cent between the years of 2018 to 2022,” said Martin.

Non-compliance with the requirement for a full-time registered nurse at all times rose from three per cent in 2019 to 40 per cent in 2022.

Martin noted that the Department of Social Development lacks enforcement options when it comes to non-compliance.

His report also cited the lack of available nursing home infection prevention and control experts, with best practices calling for one specialist per 150 to 200 nursing home beds.

“We found that the department hired two specialists to guide all nursing homes on mitigating the spread of COVID-19, but these numbers did not provide an opportunity for every home to have an in-person visit,” said Martin.

Martin found nearly three in four nursing homes do not meet design standards and only 58 per cent of non-profit homes met the departmental requirement for numbers of private rooms.

“Departmental staff informed us they believe a contributing factor to COVID-19 outbreaks was that older home layouts were not adequate to deal with airborne and communicable disease,” he wrote.

As of March 31, 2022, 90 residents and one staff member had passed away as a result of COVID-19, according to Martin’s audit.

Social Development said there is no formal plan to bring nursing homes up to the design standards or convert double occupancy rooms into single rooms, indicating it would have a significant financial impact and cause patient backlog in hospitals.

Martin will release his office’s remaining COVID-19 audit work in December.

You can view the auditor general’s full report and recommendations by clicking here.