Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in New Brunswick

Yes, but with limitations. There is no hospital HBOT programme in New Brunswick. One private hyperbaric clinic, O2 Hyperbaric Center in Dieppe, offers self-pay treatment, but this is not covered by Medicare NB. For publicly funded HBOT, patients are referred interprovincially to the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Medicare NB does not cover HBOT delivered at private clinics in New Brunswick. For medically necessary treatment of the 14 Health Canada-recognised conditions, your physician can arrange an interprovincial referral to the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax through Medicare NB; treatment costs at the receiving facility are coordinated between provincial plans.

Most New Brunswick patients are referred to the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia (approximately 270 km from Moncton). Wait times for elective and chronic cases at the QEII are commonly 12 to 18 months due to capacity constraints. Some patients in northern New Brunswick may be referred to Quebec hospital programmes depending on urgency.

Private-pay HBOT at O2 Hyperbaric Center in Dieppe typically ranges from approximately $150 to $400 per session depending on chamber type and clinical complexity. A full course of 20 to 40 sessions for a chronic indication can total $3,000 to $16,000. Confirm current pricing with the clinic directly.

New Brunswick patients accessing HBOT through interprovincial referral are treated for the 14 Health Canada-recognised conditions: carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, gas or air embolism, gas gangrene, necrotising soft-tissue infections, crush injury, severe anaemia, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, problem wounds, soft-tissue radiation necrosis, radiation damage affecting bone, compromised grafts and flaps, refractory osteomyelitis, and thermal burns. Intracranial abscess (UHMS Indication #8) and central retinal artery occlusion (a sub-presentation of arterial insufficiency) are additional UHMS-listed uses treated at some Canadian hospital hyperbaric programmes, not among the named Health Canada 14.

Most chronic indications require a course of 20 to 40 daily sessions, with some radiation indications requiring up to 60 sessions. Each session typically lasts 90 to 120 minutes. Acute emergencies may require only one or a few treatments.

Call 911. The receiving emergency department coordinates urgent interprovincial transfer, most commonly to the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. For diving-related emergencies on the Bay of Fundy or offshore, the Divers Alert Network (DAN) hotline at 1-919-684-9111 can advise on the nearest active recompression chamber.

No public timeline has been announced for a hospital hyperbaric chamber in New Brunswick. Patients and physicians have raised the issue with provincial health planners over the years; as of April 2026, interprovincial referral to Nova Scotia remains the standard pathway for publicly funded HBOT.

New Brunswick has one private clinic (O2 Hyperbaric Center in Dieppe) and no in-province hospital programme; the closest publicly funded HBOT for New Brunswick patients is at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. To find the nearest HBOT facility anywhere in Canada (with filters for province, hospital vs private, and indication), see <a href="/facilities/">our directory of all verified Canadian HBOT facilities</a>.

New Brunswick does not currently have an in-province hospital hyperbaric programme. Patients with one of the 14 Health Canada-recognised conditions and a physician referral are referred interprovincially to QEII Halifax (Nova Scotia). The referring physician initiates the out-of-province transfer through the provincial health plan's medical-travel program. Emergency cases (carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, gas embolism) are routed via provincial emergency-transport networks. Private self-pay treatment is also available at clinics in New Brunswick or in neighbouring provinces; private clinic costs are typically $150 to $400 per session.

A standard HBOT session at hospital programmes and private clinics across New Brunswick lasts 90 to 120 minutes door-to-door: roughly 10 to 15 minutes for compression to treatment depth, 60 to 90 minutes at treatment pressure (typically 2.0 to 2.8 ATA), and 10 to 15 minutes for decompression. Emergency indications such as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, or air embolism may use shorter or longer protocols (typically 2 to 5 hours per session for severe cases). Most chronic-condition courses run 20 to 40 sessions delivered daily or near-daily over 4 to 8 weeks.

Private HBOT clinics in New Brunswick typically quote $150 to $400 per session for self-pay treatment, with a full 20 to 40 session course totalling approximately $3,000 to $16,000. New Brunswick does not have an in-province hospital programme, but publicly funded patients with recognised indications and a physician referral are routed to QEII Halifax (Nova Scotia) at no out-of-pocket cost via the provincial medical-travel program.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is generally safe when delivered in a Health Canada-licensed clinical-grade chamber under physician supervision. The most common side effects are temporary: middle-ear barotrauma during compression (managed by ear-clearing techniques), transient short-sightedness over long courses that reverses within weeks of finishing, and occasional sinus pressure. Rare serious risks include oxygen toxicity seizures (under 1 in 10,000 sessions at clinical pressures) and chamber-related pneumothorax expansion. Absolute contraindications are untreated pneumothorax, concurrent bleomycin chemotherapy, and concurrent disulfiram. Hospital programmes and CPSA-accredited private clinics follow detailed pre-treatment screening protocols.

Clinical-grade hyperbaric oxygen therapy delivers 100 per cent oxygen at 2.0 to 2.8 ATA inside a Health Canada-licensed chamber. "Mild" or "soft" hyperbaric chambers operate at 1.3 ATA or less, sometimes with ambient air rather than concentrated oxygen, and are not Health Canada-licensed for the 14 recognised indications. The clinical evidence base supporting HBOT specifically references pressures of 2.0 ATA and above; lower-pressure protocols do not produce the same dissolved-oxygen physiology. Medicare NB (does not cover private HBOT) and other provincial health plans cover treatment only at hospital programmes operating clinical-grade chambers.