TRHD Board Meeting March 26 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

Thompson Regional Hospital District

Hospital district board raises concerns over provincial pause to long-term care projects

Mar 27, 2026 | 4:09 PM

KAMLOOPS — When the B.C. government released its 2026 budget in February, it included a series of pauses across the province for long-term care projects, citing a large scale review.

The issue was flagged immediately on budget day by the Kamloops Centre MLA. 

“There were six long-term care homes that were previously announced that now have a question mark next to whether or not they are actually going to proceed,” Peter Milobar told CFJC News on February 17, 2026. 

But with none of those six facilities located in Kamloops, it was unclear how exactly the decision would be felt.

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“They are embedding these… quietly within a budget, quietly within meetings like we saw today and I think it is time that we raise the alarm again,” said Kamloops councillor Katie Neustaeter, who sits as a director on the Thompson Regional Hospital District board.

The picture of concern in Kamloops became clearer during a hospital board meeting Thursday (March 26), with Interior Health confirming the postponing of work on a long-term care business case in the city, citing direction from the ministry.

“We are already behind on our needs for long-term care beds and we have an aging population,” added Neustaeter. “This is not a surprise. This is something anticipated. It’s also been exacerbated through various policies that the province has that have resulted in people who you wouldn’t normally see in long-term care beds there right now needing those services. Now, they have put a pause on these projects when they couldn’t be needed more.”

Interior Health representatives told the board the ministry is planning to conduct of review, but were unable to provide any semblance of a time frame for the work.

“Saying that there are concerns around escalating costs – they control many of those costs. If they would get some of that red tape out of the way, look at their own step-code, if they would control those costs, we might not be here today,” said Neustaeter. “But instead, they blame the pause on their own massive deficit. And that is just not good enough for the people in Kamloops, surrounding area and the whole province.”

The Thompson Regional Hospital District board approved a motion by Neustaeter to send a letter to the minister of health highlighting its concern.

“We know, here in Kamloops and throughout the Interior, we get the shaft all the time. And when we hear, ‘We are putting a pause on things,’ it often means we are going to get a lesser project in the end. That it will be lacking the things that we see down in Vancouver or something in Victoria. We get a second-tier sort of service,” said Neustaeter.