April 6, 2005

The Broken Promise on Community Care

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative's study "Continuing Care Renewal or Retreat?" should shock all British Columbians. It reveals that there are 1,464 fewer residential and assisted living beds; if assisted living is not counted, there are 2,529 fewer beds. That is a long way from the net gain of 170 beds claimed by the Campbell Liberals, which would confirm their broken promise even if it were only that bad.

Health Minister Shirley Bond responded to the CCPA study by attacking the messenger (maybe she prefers the Fraser Institute) and by claiming that the numbers are outdated. Perhaps Bond should read the CCPA report; it contains a detailed appendix which lists the change in beds by community. The report states that 26 publicly funded residential care facilities have closed. The authors of the report can no doubt provide Bond with the names and addresses of each of those facilities.

Bond should go back and review what Katherine Whittred, MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale, said when she was the Minister of State for Community and Long Term Care. In a staged cabinet meeting held on April 22, 2002, she presented a chart which illustrated the government's plan to close residential care facilities so as to reallocate the funding. Speaking to the chart, Whittred said "Lack of funding is often cited as the reason why we cannot create the options that are desired. However, when we look at how we currently use our resources, it's clear we could do things differently and get a better result. This will mean shifting some of our investment in facility care to create more appropriate services that support clients to remain independent in their own homes." Residential care beds were not closed, as claimed, because they couldn't handle wheelchairs; they were closed in order to "shift resources".