To the Editors,
It is one thing to introduce controversial legislation, but something entirely different to skip public hearings on something so important to every Ontarian.
Bill 7 was passed which allows patients in the hospital awaiting transfer to long-term care facilities to be placed wherever there is an opening. According to the Ontario Hospital Association, approximately 2,372 hospital patients are, currently, no longer in need of acute care and are awaiting transfer to long-term care as of August 17, 2022.
For patients who refuse, the legislation does not allow enforcement, but they will be made to pay. Shocker!
The More Beds, Better Care Act in my opinion is the direct result of the government cutting spending to hospitals and long-term care over the past decade, as shown by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario. As the result of poor management, the Ford government is in damage control.
I am not sure what is worse: a majority government passing a bill without anyone else’s say, or a stalemate situation where nothing changes for a period of time.
It is possible to make things worse. Not only will this be a logistical nightmare, but we are only further causing grief to our seniors and their families. Let’s say we send these seniors across Ontario hundreds of kilometers away from home on a ‘temporary basis.’ Who is going to bring them home, and when?
I guess we just have to trust the 2021 budget, but I am yet to figure out how the government plans to create 30,000 new long-term care beds and 3,069 new hospital beds, while reducing overall healthcare spending by 2030.
Walter Cassidy,
Hagersville
