Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas, who is also the Official Opposition health care critic, is upset that the Ontario government has voted to pass Bill 7, the More Beds, Better Care Act.
Gélinas looked visibly distressed as she told the legislature that passage of the new law takes away rights that elderly people expect, that being the right to refuse being sent to a long-term care (LTC) home they don't want. She said the effect is that the province would be sending people away to die.
Under Bill 7, an elderly patient or a chronic care patient in a hospital can be assessed and deemed eligible to be removed from the hospital bed and sent out to an LTC home, even if the patient does not want to go there.
One of the reasons for passing the new bill is to ensure there are enough acute care beds in Ontario hospitals in case there is a rise in new cases of COVID-19 in the coming fall and winter.
“I cannot tell you how upsetting it is to see Bill 7 pass third reading,” Gélinas told the house.
“This bill will take away the rights of frail, elderly people to consent to treatment. This is a right that we all have. When dealing with a health professional, you always have a right to consent or the right not to consent. Under this bill, frail, elderly people don’t matter, their consent doesn’t matter.”
She said it is well understood that patients considered Alternate Level of Care (ALC) are using up acute care beds in hospitals.
Gélinas said sending them to a long-term care home is not the answer. She said a better solution is to provide improved home care for elderly and chronically sick patients.
"How do we care for people who become ALC? We all know what the solution is: Bring them quality home care – at home. Support them where they want to be supported. We wouldn’t have to pass this Bill 7 and we wouldn’t have to send frail, elderly people to die away from their loved ones," she said.
Gélinas added that if Premier Doug Ford sincerely cared and wanted to fix hallway health care he could do it immediately by ensuring home care workers with full-time jobs, well paid with benefits, sick time and a pension plan.
"And problem solved. Tens of thousands of PSWs will come back to do what they like to do, to do what they’re good at doing, caring for people at home," Gélinas said.
