As of Sunday, patients waiting for a room in a nursing home may be transferred to a facility they did not choose or risk having to pay a fee penalty of $400 per day.
It’s the last thing that’s gonna happen
says David Musyj. The key point of this law is to enable a better conversation about possibilities, be it in the care sector or in the home with help.
According to the province, the law was designed to free up acute care beds and make room for the backlog of operations and the general strain on the healthcare system.
As of Monday, no hospital in the Windsor-Essex area had fined patients under the law.
Effects that are already being felt
However, according to David Musyj, the new legislation has already made it possible to free up beds as the hospital has to cope with an increasing number of visitors due to the various viruses currently circulating.
He says 16 additional beds have been made available at WRH since patients were transferred to long-term care homes.
If we don’t, I can guarantee we will have a crisis by New Year’s Eve.Every bed is precious at this point
he clarifies.
At Erie Shores Healthcare, two patients are awaiting transfer to a long-term care facility, officials say, when that number is usually between seven and 10. At the Hôtel Dieu Grace there are six instead of the usual eight.
The Ontario Health Coalition announced this on Monday challenge the law in court the Ford government. For Natalie Mehra, Director General of the organization, it is a hideous law
violating patients’ rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter.
With information from CBC
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