Home-care waiting list to be eased, minister says

Facing continued criticisms about 10,000 people on waiting lists for home care, Health Minister Deb Matthews says changes are coming to get help to more people.

Industry observers complain too much money goes to administrative costs and not to front-line care for patients coming out of hospital, as well as the elderly and infirm needing assistance in their homes.

Money from home care filters down from the health ministry to local health integration networks and then to community-care access centres, which handle requests for care from the public, before funding gets to agencies with nurses, personal support workers and other staff providing services to patients.

“That’s four tiers of administration before a penny gets to the front-line workers,” Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coalition said Friday. Matthews said she is aware of the need for improvement in the services offered.

“We have some work to do at the community level to make sure we’re getting the best value for the money we spend,” Matthews acknowledged as former TD Bank economist Don Drummond prepares to release a massive report next Wednesday on restructuring government to cut costs.

Auditor General Jim Mccarter took the government to task in his 2010 annual report for its $2 billiona-year home-care system, which serves 616,000 people annually and is intended to keep Ontarians out of hospitals and nursing homes, where care is more expensive.

Mccarter found administrative and case management costs totalled 30 per cent of the home-care budget and that some areas in Ontario had twice as much money to spend per patient as others, which meant levels of service varied depending on where patients live.