Elderly Ontarians deserve better care
For far too long, Ontario has taken an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach to the urgent and growing needs of its elderly residents.
To their credit, the Liberal governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne poured billions of new tax dollars into worthy measures such as daycare, post-secondary student support and enhanced prescription-drug coverage. Unfortunately, they largely ignored the demands a rapidly aging population were placing on the province’s publicly subsidized nursing homes.
As for Doug Ford’s 16-month-old Progressive Conservative government, it’s doing better with its commitment to open 15,000 new long-term care beds by 2024. But in case anyone needs reminding, a new report from the province’s Financial Accountability Office warns that even these costly new beds are just a fraction of what all Ontarians require.
We use the words “all Ontarians” deliberately, hoping people will agree that in addition to what’s currently being done, the province must at the very least fund 55,000 more nursing home beds by 2034.
There is a compelling moral argument that a society such as ours, which considers itself progressive and enlightened, should provide the best possible assistance to those who are elderly, infirm and can no longer care for themselves. Self-interest should also convince us that if we plan to reach a ripe old age, we will want to ensure a high level of public support awaits us. Beyond these reasons, anyone of any age who might require hospital care today should be shouting out for nursing home expansions. Premier Ford’s government has pledged to end what’s known as “hallway health care.”
Yet that’s what’s routinely provided to a huge number of people who can’t be admitted to a proper hospital room in this province because all those beds are taken. As a result, they’re stuck for days on a bed in a noisy, crowded hospital hallway.
One of the main reasons for this is that elderly patients who need but can’t get nursing home beds remain in acute-care hospitals. They don’t belong there. Their needs can best be met by a long-term care facility. But they’re among the approximately 35,000 Ontarians on waiting lists for long-term care beds, a 78 per cent increase from 2011. Meanwhile, the average wait for admission to a nursing home has increased from 99 days in 2011 to 152 days today.
These numbers are shocking. The reality they represent is unacceptable. As a society, we’re simply not preparing for the tidal wave of elderly citizens rushing our way. And we won’t end hallway health care unless we do more for the elderly.
In his report, financial accountability officer Peter Weltman said that between 2011 and 2018, the previous Liberal administration failed to open enough new nursing home beds. While the population of Ontarians aged 75 and older increased by 20 per cent in that period, the number of long-term care beds in the province rose by only 0.8 per cent.
The PC government can be applauded for trying to do better by funding 15,000 new beds. But the financial accountability officer points out that even adding 55,000 additional new beds by 2034 would only be enough to keep that daunting wait list at current levels.
Ontario is rich enough to fund these beds, and even more. But it will require an ongoing, unshakable commitment from whoever’s in power at Queen’s Park in the coming decade.
There will surely be many other demands and distractions in that time. The government should stand fast.
No segment of our population has a better claim for public support than Ontario’s elderly.