No consultation: B.C. plan to expel seniors from hospitals may not be 'attainable,' care providers say
The Ministry of Health did not consult with the very care home operators it expects to take in seniors being expelled from hospitals in preparation of a surge in serious illnesses anticipated from COVID-19 and influenza, CTV News has learned.
The president of the BC Care Providers Association said even though it had a regular meeting with the ministry in the morning, the group learned of the plan to transfer 500 hospital patients to long-term care when the minister announced it publicly Wednesday afternoon. The affected patients are ones who would be better served in long-term care than in hospital, according to officials, who proposed the transfer as part of a plan to respond to an worst-case scenario of serious respiratory illnesses.
“It would've been nice to have had some consultation on this so we could understand how we can achieve this goal,” said Terry Lake. “I'm not sure if it's attainable, we just don't have the people.”
He emphasized that while there are plenty of empty beds, the staff required to care for the person in the bed is the key problem and will take time to address.
On Thursday, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control provided a weekly update that saw hospitalizations attributed to COVID-19 rise steeply for the first time since July, suggesting the latest wave of infections, and demand on the health-care system, is already here.
Lake wants to know if patients assigned to care homes far from their communities and families will be forced to leave, as they are in Ontario under penalty of a $400 per day fine.
“We don’t know because we haven't been brought into these discussions," Lake said.
NURSES UNION ALSO SURPRISED
The exodus of trained professionals from the health-care field has been a growing issue for more than a year, with nursing staff being the biggest shortfall.
The BC Nurses’ Union says it was surprised to hear about government decanting some 1,300 patients into their own homes or assisted living, in addition to the 500 requiring more comprehensive care in long-term care facilities.
"We would like to hear what their plan is around that because we don't know," said BCNU president Aman Grewal, who pointed out whether it’s in a care home or their own residence, patients may have to wait for necessary support, wound care or other medical treatments.
“If there isn't enough capacity to intake them, then either other patients are going to be deferred or it's going to take a lot longer going into the system and it's going to have an impact on their families.”
A Vancouver Island woman spoke out this week about her experience with her elderly blind and paraplegic mother who’s terminally ill from cancer and whose caregivers have missed several shifts. On two occasions, her family was not notified that no one showed up at all, and she was left alone and in considerable pain.
THE MINISTER RESPONDS
When asked why he hadn’t consulted with stakeholders, which has been a recurring complaint across the health-care sector, the minister replied that they found out yesterday and raised the example of a single care home in Burnaby that had been refurbished and “has new spaces”; he did not specify how many.
“We're working and will be working with care providers and with people to ensure that our care homes that currently have fewer than the capacity of people in them or residents, will be able to work to that capacity and can, in fact, decant,” said Adrian Dix, though he did not say where the staff would come from in such a short amount of time.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the double-whammy of COVID-19 and influenza patients could hit B.C. hospitals as early as November, which means there are only four weeks to figure that out.
Lake pointed out not only are food costs up 11 per cent year over year for care home operators, but they’re increasingly relying on agency nurses to fill critical staffing shortages, which cost double what unionized public sector nurses cost, meaning operating budgets aren’t going as far as they did even a year ago.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.