At its meeting last Wednesday, regional council passed a motion to request the meeting with the minister of health and long-term care.

The resolution comes in response to a staff report presented to the Region’s health and social services committee last week that says some seniors can wait up to a year to get into a long-term care (LTC) facility while others could be placed far from home.

The report explains that hospitals want to discharge patients who are going to an LTC home as soon as room is available to free up hospital beds.

“Those waiting in hospital are being told that if they do not take the available LTC bed they will be charged up to $700 per day,” the report states. “Seniors are then forced to move to LTC homes that are not their choice and commonly a long distance from their loved ones.”

If a senior in the community needs urgent admission, it’s the same situation. They must take the first bed available, no matter where it is within the catchment area of the Mississauga- Halton Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), the report states. That means a Milton senior could be placed in a home in Mississauga or even south Etobicoke.

Once there they can transfer, but that can involve a wait of over two years since they’re no longer a priority, the report says.

An initiative by the Province and Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN) is seeking to address this situation, but it’s too soon to tell if it’s helping.

For seniors not designated as “urgent,” the wait for placement can be more than a year to get into one of the three homes owned and operated by Halton Region (Allendale in Milton, Post Inn Village in Oakville and Creek Way Village in Burlington); they’re able to choose which home they go to.

The admission process is co-ordinated by CCACs and LHINs.

Carr will now write to the health minister and CEOs of the area LHINs and CCACs asking them to consider the staff report.