Long-term care: patients sent to homes without understanding the language
Ontario is launching a pilot project to address a problem of priority admissions to long-term care homes in cultural and linguistic communities.
This problem is a consequence of the adoption of the 2022 law to provide more beds and better care. This legislation allows hospitals to transfer a patient who no longer requires specialized care to a long-term care facility of their choice if there are no available beds in the nursing homes of their choice. This rule has attracted a lot of criticism.
It has also had an impact on the dozens of health care centres that have been created for members of cultural communities, whether Korean, Jewish, Francophone or other.
Thousands of people are occupying beds in hospitals across the province while waiting to get a place in a nursing home. These patients have priority when a place becomes available.
No connection to language and culturePeople are placed in nursing homes without any connection to the language and culture of other residents. Managers of these centres say that patients are transferred to an Italian centre without speaking the language, while people who want to live there are sent elsewhere.
If a place becomes available in a Ukrainian centre, it will be occupied by the first person on the list, even if the second person wants to go to a Ukrainian centre.
The previous Minister of Long-Term Care, Stan Cho, said last spring that he was actively looking for a solution.
Ontario's Minister of Long-Term Care, Natalia Kusendova-Bashta (File photo)© Grant Linton/Radio-CanadaHis successor, Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, has published a proposal to amend the regulations. This would allow those responsible for placement to prioritize the referral of patients from cultural and linguistic communities to homes that correspond to their culture if they are on the list of urgent cases. These cases are largely patients in hospital waiting for a place in a long-term care home.
"Given that the majority of admitted [patients] are from the 'crisis' waiting list rather than other lists, this pilot project is necessary to facilitate the placement of these [patients] in culturally appropriate long-term care homes, which aim to meet their particular religious, cultural and/or linguistic needs," she said in a written statement.
Additional obstaclesLisa Levin, CEO of AdvantAge Ontario, a group of non-profit homes, believes the proposed changes will really make life easier for some residents, many of whom have dementia.
Often, these patients whose first language is not English return to their native language, she explains. So it's very important that they can be in those homes where the language, the food and the traditions are familiar to them.
It's also a problem for residences that serve patients from other cultures – especially if there are many of them – because they may want a different diet and don't understand the language. It's very difficult for everyone.
Orléans Liberal MPP Stephen Blais© /Radio-CanadaLiberal MP Stephen Blais reminds us that Francophones need and have the right to have services in French. He also says that couples have been separated during the placement process and sometimes sent to English-speaking institutions.
He is waiting to see if the government will put into practice what has been announced.
It's a step in the right direction, but I don't want to give false hope to anyone: it won't change much for francophones," said France Gélinas, NDP opposition health critic.
She points out that large areas of the province where hundreds of thousands of French-speaking people live have none.
MNA France Gélinas notes that it is very difficult to move a senior to a long-term care home near their home, once they have been placed in a first nursing home because the hospital needed their bed.© /Radio-CanadaMs. Gélinas points out that hospitals are full to bursting and continue to send seniors to nursing homes, sometimes far from their spouses and families. Once they are there, it is almost impossible to bring them back, she maintains, because they are no longer in such a priority category.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Long-Term Care said the pilot project will be time-limited and will include a number of centres, allowing the government to assess whether the changes are working. He did not specify which households are on the list or how long the project will last.
With information from The Canadian Press and Mathieu Simard
This problem is a consequence of the adoption of the 2022 law to provide more beds and better care. This legislation allows hospitals to transfer a patient who no longer requires specialized care to a long-term care facility of their choice if there are no available beds in the nursing homes of their choice. This rule has attracted a lot of criticism.
It has also had an impact on the dozens of health care centres that have been created for members of cultural communities, whether Korean, Jewish, Francophone or other.
Thousands of people are occupying beds in hospitals across the province while waiting to get a place in a nursing home. These patients have priority when a place becomes available.
No connection to language and culturePeople are placed in nursing homes without any connection to the language and culture of other residents. Managers of these centres say that patients are transferred to an Italian centre without speaking the language, while people who want to live there are sent elsewhere.
If a place becomes available in a Ukrainian centre, it will be occupied by the first person on the list, even if the second person wants to go to a Ukrainian centre.
The previous Minister of Long-Term Care, Stan Cho, said last spring that he was actively looking for a solution.
Ontario's Minister of Long-Term Care, Natalia Kusendova-Bashta (File photo)© Grant Linton/Radio-CanadaHis successor, Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, has published a proposal to amend the regulations. This would allow those responsible for placement to prioritize the referral of patients from cultural and linguistic communities to homes that correspond to their culture if they are on the list of urgent cases. These cases are largely patients in hospital waiting for a place in a long-term care home.
"Given that the majority of admitted [patients] are from the 'crisis' waiting list rather than other lists, this pilot project is necessary to facilitate the placement of these [patients] in culturally appropriate long-term care homes, which aim to meet their particular religious, cultural and/or linguistic needs," she said in a written statement.
Additional obstaclesLisa Levin, CEO of AdvantAge Ontario, a group of non-profit homes, believes the proposed changes will really make life easier for some residents, many of whom have dementia.
Often, these patients whose first language is not English return to their native language, she explains. So it's very important that they can be in those homes where the language, the food and the traditions are familiar to them.
It's also a problem for residences that serve patients from other cultures – especially if there are many of them – because they may want a different diet and don't understand the language. It's very difficult for everyone.
Orléans Liberal MPP Stephen Blais© /Radio-CanadaLiberal MP Stephen Blais reminds us that Francophones need and have the right to have services in French. He also says that couples have been separated during the placement process and sometimes sent to English-speaking institutions.
He is waiting to see if the government will put into practice what has been announced.
It's a step in the right direction, but I don't want to give false hope to anyone: it won't change much for francophones," said France Gélinas, NDP opposition health critic.
She points out that large areas of the province where hundreds of thousands of French-speaking people live have none.
MNA France Gélinas notes that it is very difficult to move a senior to a long-term care home near their home, once they have been placed in a first nursing home because the hospital needed their bed.© /Radio-CanadaMs. Gélinas points out that hospitals are full to bursting and continue to send seniors to nursing homes, sometimes far from their spouses and families. Once they are there, it is almost impossible to bring them back, she maintains, because they are no longer in such a priority category.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Long-Term Care said the pilot project will be time-limited and will include a number of centres, allowing the government to assess whether the changes are working. He did not specify which households are on the list or how long the project will last.
With information from The Canadian Press and Mathieu Simard
