Canada’s health system fails the elderly
Hospital overcrowding is not a new issue. Limited bed spaces have plagued Ontario hospitals for years and are increasingly straining our system.
Not only are long wait times a shameful expectation when patients arrive in the emergency department, providing care in a busy hospital hallway has become an ordinary occurrence. The problem has become so significant that the Ontario government added 1,200 hospital beds last fall in response, a move costing $100 million and requiring the reopening of two shuttered Toronto hospitals.
This major investment underscores an even bigger problem. The two reopened hospital sites are dedicated exclusively to providing space for alternative level of care (ALC) patients. These are patients who remain in a hospital or other acute care setting beyond their need for the intensity of services provided there. Due to barriers to their placement in the most appropriate care environment, they occupy beds that can’t be used for those waiting for acute care.
The ALC problem is significant in many parts of Ontario. Around one in seven hospital beds in Ontario are dedicated to ALC patients. Many ALC patients are elderly, with a median age of 80, and often live alone. These patients are incapable of returning home after receiving care at the hospital due to their complex needs. They deteriorate while waiting in hospital for placement in a more appropriate setting, most often a long-term care home.