Crisis patients see 203% increase in wait times for LTC beds

Yesterday, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES -- funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and LTC) released a detailed study on seniors health care entitled Aging in Ontario. The study reports a number of interesting results:

The number of Ontario seniors aged 85 and older increased by 36% over six years (2002-3 through 2008-9), This is more than any other age group in the adult population. There was also a 13.7% increase in seniors 65 and over.
The number of acute care hospital beds per 100,000 Ontario seniors decreased (Quite significantly: from close to 1,000 beds to, perhaps, 850 beds -- D.A.).
The number of "ALC patients" (i.e. patients in acute care beds who no longer need acute care services) waiting for a bed at an LTC home (i.e. a nursing home) almost doubled between 2005/06 and 2008/09.
Patients in hospitals waited 55 days in the last quarter of 2008/09 for admittance to an LTC home. Those admitted from the community waited 153 days, while individuals transferring between LTC homes waited 203 days.
The wait for an LTC bed increased 150% between 2003/4 and 2008/9 for individuals in hospital (an increase from 22 days to 55 days). Individuals in the community saw a 122% increase in wait time (from 69 days to 153 days).
The wait time for an LTC bed for "crisis patients" (priority 1A) increased from 26 days to 79 days -- that's a 203% increase.
Wait times for "high need" (or priority 2) applicants increased from 50 days to 104 days, or 110% .
The annual number of LTC beds available increased early in the time period examined and then remained relatively constant.
The average wait time for home care service remained constant from 2005/06 to 2008/09.
At the start of 2008/09, 69% of those receiving home care were at low or moderate risk of being placed in an LTC facility, while 30% were at high or very high risk. The report suggests more should be at high or very high risk.

This report confirms that the creation of LTC beds has stalled, that gaining access to an LTC bed is taking much longer (especially for "crisis patients"), and that hospital patients are waiting in hospitals much longer for an LTC bed. This is occurring while the number of elderly seniors is increasing at a rapid pace and while the number of acute care hospitals beds per 100,000 seniors is declining.

The study's data only goes up to 2008/9. As funding has been squeezed since then, the problems may well be worse now. Home care, for example got significant funding increases during the period of this study. But lately? Not so much.

dallan@cupe.ca

Comments

Ford government fails to respond to 72% increase in COVID inpatient days, deepening the capacity crisis

COVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221 billion, according to new CIHI data. This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization. Costs for COVID related hospitalizations increased 22.2% in Ontario in 2022/23 from the previous fiscal year, rising from $999 million to $1.221 billion. That rise is particularly notable as the OMICRON spike of late 2021 and early 2022 had passed by the the 2022/23 fiscal year. The $222 million increase in COVID hospitalization costs came in the same year as the Ford government cut special COVID funding and, in fact, cut total hospital funding by $156 million. In total, there were 60,653 COVID hospitalizations in Ontario in 2022/3, up from 47,543 in 2021/2.

More spending on new hospitals and new beds? Nope

Hospital funding: There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities). For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year. But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending. Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th

The hospital crisis: No capacity, no plan, no end

While Canada has achieved universal public healthcare coverage, that does not mean conservative forces have given up trying to erode that coverage and expand corporate care where it does not currently exist. The battle has become particularly intense in Ontario under the Ford Progressive Conservative government, which is implementing serious cuts to the level of care and moving to bring in for-profit mini-hospitals. Inadequate Staﬃng. Less and less of hospital spending is on staff. Employee compensation as a share of hospital expenditures has consistently shrunk in Ontario. This is not some immutable law of hospital development. It is in stark contrast with the rest of Canada, where compensation has become a larger share and now accounts for 67.1%. Hospitals in provinces other than Ontario now have 18 percent more staﬀ per capita than hospitals in Ontario. Overall, if Ontario had the same staﬃng capacity as the other provinces and territories, there would be another 33,778 full t

Defend Public Healthcare

Search This Blog