Not enough long-term care beds to fill demand
Report outlines issues facing 850,000 people
Waiting times for seniors getting into government-funded nursing homes has increased, yet the number of direct home support hours to seniors has decreased, the second annual Monitoring Seniors’ Services Report released Tuesday by the B.C. Seniors Advocate shows.
The report examining key issues affecting B.C.’s approximately 850,000 seniors showed the number needing home support increased by two per cent last year, but home support provided decreased by two per cent.
“You’d expect that number — the intensity of home support hours per day — to increase if you are waiting for placement (in a longterm care bed). They should be getting three to four visits a day (in home support), but clearly that’s not happening,” B.C. Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie said.
She said the policy allows a senior to have up to 120 hours of home support per month, but on average seniors are getting 20 hours.
“Part of the challenge is health authorities have been pulling back on the services they are authorized to do — meal prep and housekeeping for seniors. Is this a burden being shifted to family caregivers or are they waiting in a hospital bed putting stress on the system?”
The 70-page report also showed the average wait time to access a government-subsidized residential care bed increased in three of five regional health authorities — Fraser Health, Interior Health and Vancouver Island Health.
As well, provincewide, the portion of seniors admitted to residential care within the target of 30 days decreased from 64 per cent in 2014 to 57 per cent in 2015.
“People are staying longer and that’s creating a backlog. It means they’re living longer so that’s posi- tive, but the other way to view it is people went in sooner than they needed to go in,” she said.
Mackenzie said Fraser Health Authority recently determined eight per cent of seniors living in one of their long-term residential care beds could have been supported in the community.
In comparison that figure is only three per cent in Ontario and Alberta.
Mackenzie noted 20 per cent of seniors are renters in B.C. She has been urging B.C. to increase the rental cap on the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER). Other report highlights include: The number of subsidized housing units for seniors remained relatively constant, while the number of eligible low-income seniors waiting for a unit increased 11 per cent. The average waiting time for subsidized housing in B.C. is 2.2 years.
The number of care beds has increased 3.5 per cent since 2012, while the number of seniors 85 and older has increased 21 per cent.
74 per cent living in long-term residential care are in single rooms.
There’s been an increase of 16 per cent of seniors applying to have property taxes deferred.
The Seniors Advocate will be releasing a report specifically on home support in January.