Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day has introduced a private members bill in the legislature aimed at improving access to data from B.C.’s long-term care system.
Day, who also serves as critic for rural health and seniors health, said the Long-Term Care Access and Transparency Act is designed to bring transparency and accountability to the system.
The bill would require each health authority to report monthly on total long-term care waitlists, median and maximum wait times, the number of alternate-level-of-care patients occupying hospital beds, admissions and deaths while waiting, and transfers to non-preferred facilities.
It would also mandate reporting on hospice bed capacity and information on occupancy, waitlists, and deaths while waiting.
“You cannot fix what you do not measure,” Day said. “Right now, families across British Columbia are navigating long-term care, hospice, and home supports in the dark. That has to change.”
The legislation would also require the minister of health to publish an annual report to the legislature assessing long-term care capacity relative to population need and to develop and update a public long-term care access plan each year. The bill states the plan must include measurable actions to reduce hospital backlogs, expand capacity, and improve patient flow from acute care to appropriate settings.
Day said the legislation is non-partisan and focuses on accountability.
“We have an opportunity to call stakeholder groups in support of the bill, or against the bill, to get their feedback on it,” Day said. “At that point, if the committee passes that through, it would be voted on and become law in British Columbia.”
The bill will be up for debate in the legislature on Monday.
Health Minister Josie Osborne said Wednesday she would take some time to review the bill. She said the ministry of health and health authorities closely monitor waitlists for long-term care homes and noted that health authorities already publish some information about long-term care waitlists.
She added that the government wants to avoid duplication and unnecessary administration.
BC Care Providers Association CEO Mary Polak said her organization has long been calling on the health ministry to release more comprehensive data, particularly about the number of alternate-level-of-care patients. These are patients, most often seniors, who have been approved for long-term care but cannot be discharged from acute care because there is no appropriate placement available.
Polak said there currently is no consistent level of reporting across health authorities.
“It’s information that the public should be aware of. It’s information that the system needs to be able to plan,” she said.
Polak said she supports the bill’s calls for monthly reports.
“The important thing to me is that we begin to report this consistently and publicly,” Polak said.
— with files from Wylie Henderson
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