BILL NO. 41

(as introduced)

3rd Session, 63rd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
70 Elizabeth II, 2021

 

Private Member's Bill

 

Homes for Special Care Act
(amended)

 

Gary Burrill
Halifax Chebucto

First Reading: March 23, 2021

(Explanatory Note)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

Explanatory Note

This Bill requires residential care facilities, homes for the disabled, homes for the aged and nursing homes licensed on or after September 1, 2021, to provide residents with their own bedrooms and washrooms, and requires the Minister of Community Services to set, by regulation, dates by which facilities and homes licensed before September 1, 2021, must meet these requirements.

An Act to Amend Chapter 203
of the Revised Statutes, 1989,
the Homes for Special Care Act,
Respecting a Room for Every Resident

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Section 5 of Chapter 203 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Homes for Special Care Act, as amended by Chapter 17 of the Acts of 2010, is further amended by adding immediately after subsection (2) the following subsection:

(2A) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), the Minister shall refuse to issue a license to a person to operate a residential care facility, a home for the disabled, a home for the aged or a nursing home on or after September 1, 2021, if the facility or home is not in compliance with subsections 5A(1) to (3).

2 Chapter 203 is further amended by adding immediately after Section 5 the following Section:

5A (1) Subject to subsection (2), no bedroom in a residential care facility, a home for the disabled, a home for the aged or a nursing home may accommodate more than one resident.

(2) A bedroom in a residential care facility, a home for the disabled, a home for the aged or a nursing home may accommodate two residents according to their mutual wishes, if appropriate accommodation is available.

(3) Every bedroom in a residential care facility, a home for the disabled, a home for the aged or a nursing home must be equipped with a dedicated private washroom.

(4) Until a date to be set by the Governor in Council by regulation, this Section applies only to residential care facilities, homes for the disabled, homes for the aged or nursing homes issued a license to operate on or after September 1, 2021.

3 Subsection 19(1) of Chapter 203, as amended by Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2007 and Chapter 17 of the Acts of 2010, is further amended by adding immediately after clause (d) the following clause:

(da) setting dates for when residential care facilities, homes for the disabled, homes for the aged or nursing homes licensed before September 1, 2021, must comply with subsections 5A(1) to (3);

 

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