New Brunswick Social Development Minister Cindy Miles has approved the temporary prioritization of patients at four hospitals who are waiting for admission to nursing homes.

Miles says the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital in Fredericton, Upper River Valley Hospital in Hartland, Saint John Regional Hospital and Miramichi Regional Hospital will prioritize nursing home placements for the next 30 days.

While nursing home admissions are normally done chronologically, during critical circumstances the minister has the authority to prioritize admission of alternate-level-of-care patients waiting in hospital when requested by the health authority.

The change can be enacted for up to 30 days when emergency and acute care departments are over capacity and when critical surgeries are cancelled due to a lack of available hospital beds.