Starting next week, patients in southern Ontario can move up to 70 kilometers away, while those in northern Ontario can move up to 150 kilometers away, Health Minister Sylvia Jones and Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra said in a statement Wednesday . “Regulations and guidance will be given to our health care partners that keep them close to home and respect religious, ethnic and language preferences,” Jones and Calandra said. “Couples will stay together.” The regulations announced Wednesday are part of an effort to free up hospital beds as the health care system grapples with temporary emergency closures and a backlog of surgery. “We want to be clear about what this policy does: it frees up hospital beds so those waiting for surgeries can get them sooner; it eases pressure on busy emergency departments by admitting patients earlier,” Jones and Calandra said. Ministers said the policy would only affect patients waiting to be discharged from hospital and whose preferred long-term care homes have no places available. The changes will start on Wednesday next week. Starting Nov. 20, hospitals will charge a standard daily fee of $400 to patients who no longer need hospital care but choose to remain in the hospital after discharge, including alternative-level-of-care patients authorized for admission to a long-term care home . The province introduced legislation last month that would allow hospitals to send so-called alternative level of care patients to a long-term care home not of their choice on a temporary basis. The province said there are about 1,800 of those patients currently in hospital waiting for a spot in one of their five preferred options in a long-term care home. The bill, which moved through the Legislature without public hearings, has drawn outrage from seniors and advocates. The regulations announced Wednesday are part of an effort to free up hospital beds as the health care system grapples with temporary emergency room and backlog closures. (Shutterstock) Jones and Calandra said the distances patients can move “are based on the information we received from the industry and give hospitals the options they need to make this policy effective.” Hospital emergency departments across the province have been closed for hours or days at a time in recent months, largely due to a shortage of nurses. Placement coordinators would select long-term care homes within a 70 km radius of the patient’s preferred location, except in the north, where the radius would be 150 km.
The province is punishing the elderly, the opposition says
Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario, said in a statement Wednesday that seniors should not be penalized for the province’s failure to invest in its health care system. “It is wrong to force seniors to pay $12,000 a month if they refuse to go to a LTC home that is not of their choice and away from their family,” Schreiner said. “It’s embarrassing for the elderly and makes them think the crisis in our hospitals is their fault. And taking them away from their loved ones and caregivers will actually exacerbate the staffing crisis by putting additional pressure on our already overworked PSWs and LTC Staff. Without a doubt, this will put the elderly at risk.” Schreiner said the provincial government should do the following to treat people in long-term care with dignity:
Invest in home care, which would allow people to receive care and age at home. Dealing with the personnel crisis, with the first step being the repeal of Bill 124. Investment in not-for-profit long-term care homes across the province.
