Dr. Amina Jabbar sees the crisis every day in her seniors\u2019 internal medicine unit just outside Toronto. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, at the beginning of fall\u2026 we\u2019ve got a 30 per cent rate of patients who just can\u2019t go home, can\u2019t leave the unit,\u201d she said. In the Trillium Health Partners hospital where she works, that means there\u2019s no room for incoming patients \u2014 a problem now replicated across Ontario hospitals.<\/p>\n
Government figures show nearly 5,000 patients in Ontario are stuck in hospitals. Labelled ALC (alternate level of care) patients, half of them are waiting for long-term-care beds, rehab beds or mental care and addictions facility beds, that are not opening fast enough. <\/p>\n
Against this backdrop, Ontario home-care agency Ontario Health at Home<\/a> is quietly launching what it calls \u201cHigh-Intensity Bundled Home Care,\u201d an initiative that will offer home care agencies up to $700 per day -care agencies to deliver hospital-level services directly in a patient\u2019s home. The program is targeting at least 570 seniors or patients waiting for long term care, along with others waiting for mental health or addiction support or rehabilitation. <\/p>\n In documents obtained by CTV News, the goal is to start moving them into the community by Dec. 8, freeing up beds before the winter season.<\/p>\n Program funding levels<\/p>\n Under the program, home-care agencies will receive a flat-fee payment to provide intensive services for each patient discharged from hospital:<\/p>\n $1,500 per week for patients with at-home mental health or addictions support needs; and$5,000 per week (about $700 a day) for high-needs seniors or complex patients.<\/p>\n The budget is to co-ordinate and cover all services including personal support workers, occupational and physiotherapists, medications, medical supplies and equipment and meals. Twenty-four-hour on-call coverage is required along with transport to and from medical appointments. <\/p>\n Rapid rollout<\/p>\n Internal documents indicate Phase 1 targets about 570 high-needs seniors, many requiring two-person lifts, 24-hour supervision, or dementia support. The goal: move 100 per cent of them home in December and ensure they are well cared for, so that they don\u2019t return to emergency departments or require hospital admissions. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re talking about the heaviest of heavy-care clients,\u201d said one health-care worker familiar with the proposal, who spoke to CTV News on condition of anonymity. \u201cThese are people who need two-person lifts, constant supervision, and 24-hour support. It\u2019s ambitious \u2014 maybe too ambitious \u2014 to launch this quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Staffing remains the biggest question mark.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks good on paper, and I wish them well,\u201d said Dr. Alan Drummond, an emergency physician in Perth, Ont. \u201cBut knowing that staffing shortages are affecting every part of the health-care system, where are these quality workers going to come from?\u201d<\/p>\n Vivian Stamatopoulos, a researcher and an advocate for better long-term care in Ontario, agrees that the sector is already stretched thin. <\/p>\n \u201cI hear from home-care recipients all the time that it is very difficult to find workers, there are missed appointments\u2026 and of course the safety issues that come with that,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n