The Ontario government’s move to immediately open up about 1,200 new hospital beds is welcome news to our over-burdened hospital system, but it’s really only a Band-Aid solution to a much bigger problem.
Recent studies have shown that, on any given day, about 4,000 hospital beds in Ontario are being occupied by patients who don’t really need the primary care of a hospital but are too infirm to be at home.
What the government should be doing is creating more long-term care facilities for those who need palliative care and more hospice beds for end-of-life care — and there has to be a massive improvement in home care.
It’s simple math really; that kind of investment would free up those 4,000 hospital beds, which would solve the backlog in emergency rooms, which would minimize the number of code zeros in our ambulance service.
Yes, it will be expensive to do, but don’t let the government tell you that it’s unaffordable.
It’s really all about priorities.
Maybe fewer wind turbines and more long-term care beds would address the needs of Ontario’s aging population.
Our health-care system needs intensive care and there’s no time like the present to put it on the road to recovery.
Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News.