Health Council of Canada finds home care burden growing across country

MONTREAL – On the heels of a scathing report by the Quebec ombudsman on cuts to homecare services, a cross-Canada portrait of the situation shows similar needs growing elsewhere in the country. 

Most seniors live at home and want to stay there as long as possible. But the report released Monday by the Health Council of Canada suggests that the homecare landscape is marked by “seniors in need and caregivers in distress.”

That landscape in 2007 numbered 2.7 million family caregivers over age 45 helping seniors with complex, long-term health problems.

One key finding is that seniors with complex health needs are getting, at best, a few more hours of home care a week than seniors with moderate needs to manage daily activities.

The bulk of care usually falls on family members – particularly spouses – many of whom are elderly and have severe chronic health problems of their own, the report found.

The consequence, council chairperson Jack Kitts wrote in his introduction, “is that many family caregivers of these high-needs seniors are stretched beyond their capacity, reporting high levels of stress, depression, and difficulties in continuing to provide care.”

The majority of home care clients are older than age 65 and they are facing chronic illnesses including diabetes, heart failure and cancer.

About 40 per cent of them are older than 85. At least 20 per cent have dementia. Nearly 98 per cent can’t cope with cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping and home maintenance, while up to 41 per cent need help with bathing, eating and toileting.

At least a quarter of the caregivers were seniors themselves – with their own health problems. Nearly 60 per cent of caregivers were women.

According to a recent report by provincial ombudsman Raymonde Saint-Germain, Quebec is failing to provide its seniors with help needed to stay at home despite a 2003 policy that favours home care for the elderly and the disabled over institutionalized care.

Saint-Germain noted a sharp rise last year in complaints from seniors getting home care following budget cuts at Quebec’s Centres de santé et des services sociaux. “There are not enough resources,” said Saint-Germain.