Issue link: http://clhia.uberflip.com/i/354914
11 The CLHIA recommends that patient advocates be created that can act as a point of contact for those seeking long-term care and to help them more effectively navigate the system. 5. ENSURE SUFFICIENT CAPACITY OF LONG-TERM CARE It will be important to ensure sufficient capacity in the system to cope with the demand for long-term care as Canadians age. This includes the capacity in long-term care facilities and that there exists the appropriate number of health care professionals to provide treatments both long-term care facilities and through home care. Long-term Care Facility Capacity Long-term care facilities are dealing with capacity challenges. There are currently about 300,000 people residing in long-term care facilities in Canada. 23 As discussed above, we know that even today there are capacity issues given the number of Canadians in hospitals waiting for appropriate long-term care beds to become available. Reports indicate that the number of seniors designated as 'alternate level of care' in acute or complex care hospitals almost doubled between 2005 and 2008. 24 As a result, the overall wait times for individuals seeking placement in long-term care facilities has increased dramatically. For example, in the last quarter of 2008-2009, the median wait time for placement in Ontario was 103 days for urgent cases and up to 618 days and beyond for others, depending on the region. 25 While there is a problem today, given the age demographics, the problem will only grow. If we assume residency rates of the present population, it can be predicted that Canada will need over 800,000 long- term care beds by the year 2047 – over 2.5 times what we have now. Even if we assume a much greater use of home care for Canadians, there will be a significant increase in the number of facilities required for the long-term care needs of Canadians. Indeed, based on the average size of current long- term care facilities in Canada, to meet this future demand Canada will need almost 6,000 addition long- term care facilities to be built over the next 35 years. This works out to almost 170 new facilities per year over this period. 26 Given the magnitude of the issue, as well as the current fiscal challenges facing governments, governments will not be able to provide all the funding for new facilities. It is critical, therefore, that both the private and public sectors play a role in meeting this need. Private sector participation in the provision of long-term care would promote competition, which could lead to improved innovation of services, cost efficiencies and focusing on the patient in the long-term care market. In order to ensure 23 Canadian Healthcare Association. New Directions for Facility-Based Long-term Care. 24 Canadian Institute for Health Information, January 14, 2009. Alternate level of care in Canada. Analysis in brief. 25 The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto and the Ontario Home Care Research Network. Aging in Ontario: An ICES Chartbook of Health Service Use by Older Adults. 26 According to the Canadian Healthcare Association (New Directions for Facility-Based Long-term Care), in 2007 there were 2,577 long-term care facilities in Canada and 217,969 beds. Based on this we use average beds per facility to calculate the number of facilities required to meet expected future demand.