Ford government gives hospitals the power to send elderly patients to nursing homes
In a bid to ease the shortage of hospital beds with the winter COVID-19 and flu season approaching, Premier Doug Ford has used his majority to give hospitals more power to push frail and elderly patients cleared for discharge into nursing homes not of their choosing.
Bill 7 - known as the More Beds, Better Care Act - was introduced 13 days ago and passed Wednesday amid warnings from critics it could result in seniors being moved to homes that are far from their families or that fared poorly in terms of illnesses and deaths during the pandemic.
The long-term-care homes with the most available beds are the ones with the worst records of caring for seniors," said New Democrat MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls), his party's long-term-care critic.
Ford insisted the almost 2,000 elderly in hospitals on waiting lists for long-term-care beds would be better off in nursing homes, even if the facilities they are sent to are not on the list of five preferred homes they have selected.
It's about giving proper care to people who should be in long-term care," Ford told the legislature's daily question period before the vote.
Opposition parties complained the act - which Ford did not mention during the June 2 election campaign - was rushed through with no legislative committee or public hearings.
Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra has said no patients will be physically moved without their consent, but encouraged hospitals to use powers in place since 1979 to charge the elderly the $62 daily long-term-care co-payment if they refuse the move to a nursing home.
There is also the prospect patients refusing to consider long-term care or other facilities once cleared for hospital discharge could face daily uninsured hospital bed rates of as much as $1,800, although Ford signalled Tuesday night that could change.
We'll have to work on the cost."
The lack of specifics as the bill was passed raised concerns, with interim NDP Leader Peter Tabuns citing fees the premier has not figured out or is not willing to reveal."
Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said the bill sets the stage for coercion" of the vulnerable elderly into places they do not want to go to avoid paying additional fees.
It's not a happy day."
Ford said the status quo is no longer an option given overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms, some of which have had temporary shutdowns this summer because of a lack of staff, and backlogged surgeries from the pandemic.
There are now 6,000 patients in Ontario hospitals, including almost 2,000 awaiting nursing home beds, who no longer require acute care but are waiting for alternate levels of care (ALC), which could include home care or rehabilitation facilities.
Critics have slammed the government for not doing enough to boost those alternatives, resulting in the current situation, and noted long-term-care homes are also experiencing severe staff shortages from the pandemic.
Reports from a commission into long-term care and military medical teams called into several homes where staffing levels fell as low as 20 per cent during peak periods of infection and horrendous living conditions such as residents in soiled diapers for days in a system not ready for the pandemic.
Meanwhile, several groups called on the Ontario Human Rights Commission to investigate.
Bill 7 will profoundly exacerbate the discrimination and disadvantage that elderly patients - and their families - experience today," said a statement from the Ontario Health Commission, the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.
Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1