The Ontario government has announced the relocation and expansion of a long-term care facility in Hamilton as part of its plan to improve access to care.
Baywoods Place will move from Main Street East to a new building that will double the capacity to 256 beds.
Minister of Health and Long Term Care Helena Jaczek says the additional 128 beds in Hamilton will bump up the number of care hours being provided.
“Once fully phased in, this will mean an additional 15 million hours of nursing, personal support and therapeutic care for long-term care residents,” she said.
Candace Chartier with the Ontario Long Term care Association says she’s encouraged by the announcement. “People won’t have to leave their community.”
Chartier adds the expansion will also help chip away at the waiting list for long-term care beds across the province.
According to the Ontario Long Term Care Association’s website, 32,277 people were waiting for a long-stay bed in October 2017. The average wait time was 143 days.
It’s an issue that a long-time former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion couldn’t help but mention during the minister’s appearance in Hamilton on Friday.
“I am concerned that 104 beds are occupied by long-term care,” she said from the podium.
“The acute care patients are coming in, and in the halls, laying in the halls waiting for beds. That is unacceptable in this modern day.”
McCallion commended the province for its stated commitment to create 5,000 new long-term care beds across the province over the next four years, but stressed they need to be built, saying, “we’re getting behind.”
Over the next six months, Revera will be working with the City of Hamilton to find a location for the development.
The province will provide approximately $38 million in subsidies for the project.