ontarians split on bill that could force patients into nursing homes
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bill 7 "tramples on patients' rights," the ontario liberal party said in a press release. getty
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ontario residents are divided on a controversial new bill that would give hospitals the power to move people to nursing homes against their wishes, or charge them money, in order to free up hospital beds.
bill 7, subtitled the more beds, better care act, took effect on sept. 21. the bill will allow hospitals to move patients waiting for spots in long-term care facilities to other facilities, ones the patients didn’t choose, which could be as far as 70 km away for people in southern ontario, and 150 km away for people in the north. those patients would have the option to refuse the move — but only if they paid $400 a day.
the move to the new nursing home would also be the patient’s responsibility to pay for, the toronto star has explained. once a long-term care bed is offered, a patient has five days to make the move.
according to a new poll by angus reid, 53 per cent of ontarians said moving patients to long-term care against their will is a violation of patients’ rights and shouldn’t be considered. but nearly as many — 47 per cent — said they agreed that the government should do what they can to make more hospital beds available, even if it meant moving patients to long-term care homes against their wishes.
the province also skipped public hearings on the bill, adding more controversy to the divisive measure.
given that the move was implemented by premier doug ford’s progressive conservative government, it’s not entirely surprising that pc voters were more likely to support the bill than people who voted for other parties. the poll found that 66 per cent of pc voters support the bill, compared to 40 per cent of liberal voters and only 33 per cent of ndp voters.
“experts agree that the best place for somebody who has been discharged from hospital, who is on the long-term care home waiting list to wait for their preferred home of choice, is in a long-term-care home, not in a hospital bed,” long-term care minister paul calandra said during question period in late august.
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ford reiterated the point, telling the legislature, “we need them in a home.”
this also isn’t surprising given that the provincial government’s political rivals have highly criticized bill 7. the bill “tramples on patients’ rights,” the ontario liberal party said in a press release. in september, the liberals put forward a motion to limit the amount of money patients will be charged if they refuse to move.
the ontario ndp, meanwhile, called the bill a “cruel scheme.”
“removing frail elderly people from their loved ones and essential caregivers is horrifying, and will cause seniors’ health and well-being to go downhill fast,” the party’s health care critic france gélinas and long-term care critic wayne gates said in a joint statement. “imagine the guilt of knowing you can’t afford to pay $400 a day to keep your dad in hospital, and having to put him in a for-profit long-term care home with a devastating record and disgusting living conditions.”
the green party, too, has criticized the initiative.
“so many elders, seniors, advocates, health-care professionals and others have raised significant concerns about this legislation,” green party leader mike schreiner said, adding that skipping public hearing is “completely outrageous and anti-democratic.”
courtesy of angus reid
on average, men were slightly more likely than women to support bill 7: 52 per cent of men versus 43 per cent of women. in terms of age group, the starkest difference was between people in the 35-54 category: 41 per cent of people in that age group agree with the bill, and the other 59 per cent did not. however, people over 55 were truly split: 50 per cent supported the bill, and 50 per cent did not.
the ontario medical association stopped short of endorsing the bill outright, but said in a statement to healthing that “ontario’s doctors appreciate that sometimes it’s necessary to make difficult decisions for the benefit of the overall health-care system.”
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the group, which represents the province’s doctors, added that “we hope that these regulations can be implemented with compassion and flexibility. we know having family and friends nearby is critical to the well-being of the long-term care residents.”
some ontario hospitals have publicly supported the initiative, like southlake regional health centre in newmarket, ont., which is one of the area’s most overcrowded hospitals.
“it’s not going to solve the problems at all, but it’s one thing we can be doing to help us gain back some amount of capacity,” the hospital’s ceo arden krystal told ctv news. “we have a specific obligation to those who are acutely ill, and those waiting in our hospital are also by in large elderly. in a perfect world, we would want everybody to swiftly move to the type of service that is right for them. unfortunately, we are in a constraint system and have been for some time.”
but bill 7 has many critics in health care, too.
“bill 7 does nothing to address the root causes of our hospital crisis in ontario, which is a crisis of nurse and health-care staffing; it simply forces patients from one understaffed environment to another,” said cathryn hoy, president of the ontario nurses’ association. “even more concerning, bill 7 threatens patients’ basic rights to freedom of choice and could result in vulnerable seniors being moved far from family and supports they rely on.”
she added that the bill will put many nurses “in an impossible position, being asked by their employers to pressure families and vulnerable patients. this could violate the basic tenets of consent and bodily autonomy we are taught to uphold and defend as health-care providers, and standards required for nursing licensing.”
the ontario council of hospital unions also condemned the bill, pointing out in a press release that many of the long-term care homes with available beds are ones with “histories of poor compliance with the law and poor outcomes during the covid-19 pandemic.” among many other problems, the union says, the bill “suspends the requirement for informed consent” and sets a tone “of discrimination and coercion” that’s “very dangerous.”
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“elderly and disabled patients are often already subjected to unacceptable levels of pressure as hospitals seek to clear out beds in a competition for too-few resources. this legislation gives them a new tool — express powers to override consent.”
maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com
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