Region has relatively short waits for nursing homes

When it comes to waiting for beds to open in nursing homes, the Erie St. Clair region has some of the shortest waits in the province. But short as they are relative to the Ontario median, the waits are getting longer.

The median wait was 43 days for patients in hospital, and 74.5 for patients waiting elsewhere in the community in 2016-17, according to the most recent Health Quality Ontario (HQO) report, Measuring Up, released this month. In 2014-15, the waits were 30 and 50 days respectively.

The uptick is attributable to a rise in the number of people age 75 and up in the region that includes Sarnia-Lambton, Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex, said Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) spokeswoman Shannon Sasseville.

The difference is even more stark provincially. In 2016-17, the provincial median for waits from hospital was 92 days, and 149 days from elsewhere in the community. In 2014-15, those were 68 and 94 days respectively. “People’s health may deteriorate during long waits for admission, and waiting can be stressful for them and for the family members or friends who are their caregivers,” the HQO report reads. “As well, when people are waiting in hospital, it may affect the hospital’s ability to provide services to other patients who require hospital care.”

Still, in Erie St. Clair, the wait time to nursing homes for people at home or elsewhere in the community is the fastest in the province. Neighbouring South West region is the fastest for waits while in hospital, with a median of 41 days — two faster than Erie St. Clair. “It is a good news story for Erie St. Clair to be able to see that relative to the rest of the province, patients are waiting much less time,” said Anna Greenberg, vice-president of health system performance with Health Quality Ontario. But that doesn’t mean those waits are short, she said. “From a patient perspective, I’d say it’s still long.”

Better supports at home can theoretically help reduce the number who need to be admitted to longterm care, Sasseville said.

“We are proud to say residents in Erie St. Clair are waiting about half as long as the provincial (median) for a long-term care bed.” Meanwhile, Erie St. Clair had the highest percentage, 23, of long-term care residents without psychosis who were given antipsychotic medication in 2016-17. The Ontario percentage is 20.4. Overall, the incidence of using the drugs for sedation purposes has been going down for the past eight years, Greenberg said. The percentage in Erie St. Clair in 2015-16 was 27.

“This is one indicator where a lot of focus and attention has brought significant improvements,” Greenberg said.