Ontario<\/a> have been moved from hospitals to long-term care homes not of their choosing under a law the government implemented over a year ago.<\/p>\nThe law can see those patients placed in homes up to 70 kilometres away \u2014 or 150 kilometres if they are in northern Ontario \u2014 without their consent and requires hospitals to charge them $400 a day if they refuse the transfer.<\/p>\n
It is aimed at moving so-called alternate level of care patients \u2014 who can be discharged from hospital but need a long-term care bed and don\u2019t yet have one \u2014 in order to free up hospital space.<\/p>\n
If there are no spaces available in long-term care homes a patient has put on their preferred list, they can instead be transferred to a home selected by a placement co-ordinator at the hospital.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Long-Term Care has not previously publicly disclosed the numbers of patients moved under those new rules, but Long-Term Care Minister Stan Cho\u2019s office now confirms to The Canadian Press that 293 alternate level of care patients were admitted to homes they didn\u2019t choose between September 2022 and January of this year.<\/p>\n
That represents about 1.7 per cent of all of the alternate level of care patients discharged from public hospitals to long-term care homes in that time period, Cho\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
Cho said he wants people to be able to age comfortably in long-term care homes, not in hospital beds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to get people who belong in a long-term care home out of the hospitals, into the home and what that\u2019s doing is leaving hospitals freer for that acute care,\u201d he said Wednesday in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s have the appropriate care for the right place, the right person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cho said he has not been made aware of any fines being issued under the law.<\/p>\n
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the threat of being fined $400 a day is likely enough to make most people acquiesce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d be afraid, frankly,\u201d she said. \u201cRunning this kind of program on fear is a terrible option and it was always going to result in people being forced to leave their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seniors are appalled at the effect the legislation has had, said Patricia Spindel, co-founder of Seniors for Social Action Ontario.<\/p>\n
\u201cHundreds of people are now subjected to this ageist, cruel and dehumanizing legislation that has taken away their basic rights \u2013 and these are vulnerable people \u2013 to choose where they will live,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a human rights violation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The legislation has had a chilling effect on seniors, she said, with many members of her organization saying they are afraid to go to a hospital for fear they will never return home and be shipped off to a nursing home they do not want to go to.<\/p>\n
In one survey of more than 1,000 people aged 55 and older commissioned by Home Care Ontario, 91 per cent said they\u2019d prefer to remain at home if additional supports were available. Those numbers resemble previous polls by the National Institute on Aging where the vast majority of respondents 65 and older preferred home over long-term care.<\/p>\n
Forcing nearly 300 seniors into nursing homes not of their choosing is a \u201cvery significant deprivation of liberty,\u201d said Graham Webb, executive director of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who actually have been moved without legal consent is just the very tip of the iceberg,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The advocacy centre has several clients who have been forced into nursing homes under the new law, Webb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hearing that this is a very worrisome and oppressive measure that happens when families are least able to deal with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His organization, along with the Ontario Health Coalition, have taken the province to court over the issue, challenging the constitutionality of the law. They say the law, the More Beds, Better Care Act, also known as Bill 7, violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, particularly the rights of older patients.<\/p>\n
The matter is set to be heard in the fall, Webb said.<\/p>\n
Ontario Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser said the legislation is plain wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government should be looking at changing that law,\u201d Fraser said. \u201cIt\u2019s not right and it\u2019s not fair to families.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s worse, he said, is there is no recourse or appeal process for patients and families.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere else do we do that in the society where we say, \u2018You have to do this thing otherwise we\u2019ll fine you, but you don\u2019t have a right to appeal?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the heavy hand of government that we need to protect against.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said he is thinking of seniors who have been moved away from relatives and supports.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s 293 families whose loved ones are not in the community where their care providers are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that\u2019s so underappreciated is the role that members play in caring for their loved ones. When those loved ones live a long ways away it means they\u2019re not able to care for them the way they would be if they\u2019re in community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Click here for the original article<\/a>
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