Anthony Dale writes: ‘In Ontario, far too many seniors are waiting in hospitals for a more appropriate level of care (ALC).’
Torstar file photo
During the most serious public health crisis in our history, hospitals and other health care providers stepped up to maintain access to the highest quality of care while facing extraordinary pressures. With dedication and skill, front line staff and health system leaders met the enormous challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic head on. But the most painful lesson was the need to do more to protect and care for seniors — by far the population hit hardest by COVID-19.
Now, at this historic moment, a national strategy with a ‘Team Canada’ approach is needed to ensure that the right type of capacity is available across the health care system, including in long-term care, home and community care and primary care, and that continued investments are made to support research into healthy aging.
Currently, there are about 7.3 million people aged 65 or older living in Canada. Over the next 20 years, Canada’s seniors’ population will rise by 68 per cent and immigration will continue to drive this growth. These evolving demographics are expected to have a significant impact on provincial health care systems.
In Ontario, far too many seniors are waiting in hospitals for a more appropriate level of care (ALC). There are almost 5,500 patients occupying beds who are ready for discharge but have nowhere to go due to wait times for other care providers. When ALC rates are high, there is a ripple effect across hospitals with lengthier wait times in emergency departments, higher occupancy rates, and less wiggle room to accommodate a future surge in patients.
Significant progress has been made in recent years to expand the number of long-term care spaces. As a next step, a significant expansion of home and community care is also needed to address wait times and to ensure more seniors to have the option of living independently for as long as they can. Home care is not only the more cost-effective option — it is also the preference of seniors, their caregivers, and their families.
A 2020 report from Don Drummond, Duncan Sinclair and Rebekah Bergen, aging Well, found that far too many Canadian seniors are placed in settings that are not conducive to “aging well.” They suggest that healthy aging “ … will require a major policy change, a shift in the status quo, putting emphasis on the housing, lifestyle, and social needs of the elderly equal to that now given to meeting their care.”
Groundbreaking research in seniors’ and dementia care underway in Ontario’s research hospitals are making it possible for seniors to live longer, healthier lives in the community using innovative mobility devices, dementia prevention approaches and virtual care and medication management tools. Access to quality primary care services will be a key determinant of health outcomes for these seniors.
Despite primary care’s key importance many Ontarian seniors lack access to a family doctor. In 2023, the Ontario College of Family Physicians reported that approximately 2.2 million Ontarians are without a family doctor, an increase from 1.8 million in 2020.
As the Premiers come together for the Council of the Federation meeting July 10-12 in Winnipeg, health care capacity and future sustainability must remain a top priority for Canada. The final report of Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission put forward an important challenge: “Leaders at every level must put their hearts, as well as their minds, into reimaging the care of the elderly in this province.”
While Canada did not have the luxury of time to plan for COVID-19, Canada’s aging population, or what some may colloquially call the ‘grey tsunami,’ is well documented. Now is the time for a ‘Team Canada’ approach to ensuring that seniors have access to the type of care they need and so desperately deserve.
- Anthony Dale, President and CEO, OHA