Province not ruling out a public-private partnership for central Newfoundland long-term care facilities

The provincial government said it will soon announce how it will approach building two new long-term care facilities in central Newfoundland.

One option could be a public-private partnership similar to the one being used to build a long-term care facility in Corner Brook, according to Minister of Transportation and Works Al Hawkins.

"Whether that model will work for central Newfoundland, we're not sure," said Hawkins.

"Again, every project is based on a value for money which is done to determine whether to go the traditional way or the P3 model, so that's something we'll be looking at."

In 2015, the Conservative government announced plans for 120 new beds to be split between Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor.

They were announced at the same time as the 120 beds for Corner Brook, where construction on the privately built, publicly operated long-term care centre is expected to begin in the fall and completed in 2019.

The government also announced 120 new long-term care beds for the northeast Avalon.

Cancelled RFP

In January 2016, the Liberal government cancelled a request for proposals for the 360 beds in Newfoundland which they said only allowed for private partnerships.

At the time, Minster of Health John Haggie said the process was "too narrow" because it considered only one option: having the private sector build, own, maintain and operate long-term care facilities.

Hawkins told reporters on Tuesday that "a P3 is just one procurement method" that "is new to us as a province" and said they would continue to look at the possible options for the 120 beds in central Newfoundland.