As part of the October 2008 economic response, we legislated new protections for seniors to ensure RRSPs are protected from creditors during bankruptcy proceedings.
We continue to lobby the federal government to advance or eliminate the current rules requiring seniors to convert their RRSPs when they turn 71.
We currently spend about $2.25 billion on home and community care for seniors, up $686 million from 2001, a 44 per cent increase.
We’ve built 5,896 net new, and replaced 6,539, residential care beds, assisted living and supportive housing units in communities across B.C. – that’s 12,435 new beds in total since 2001.
62 per cent of residential care clients are paying the lowest daily rate for residential care, $30.90 per day, one of the lowest client rates in all of Canada.
We’ve reduced wait times to access residential care from about one year in 2001, to an average of 15-90 days now.
We created the Premier's Council on Aging & Seniors Issues, and followed through on their key recommendation to eliminate mandatory retirement, providing choice for those who want to continue working.
For the first time since 1993, we increased the Homeowner’s Grant to $845 and raised the property value threshold to $1.05 million, and there is no threshold for low income seniors.
Expanded the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER). More than 15,700 seniors receive a monthly rental assistance payment, that’s 3,500 more seniors than in 2001.
We’ve renewed the Senior’s Supplement, a monthly payment guaranteeing a minimum income for seniors – nearly $600 million annually, providing for 40,000 seniors.
Residential Care Standards We believe in holding all care facilities to the same high standards because it is the quality of care delivered that should be the proper measurement of our seniors’ care facilities, not who owns the building.
All residential care facilities that provide publicly funded services are held to the exact same high standards, whether they are owned publicly, by non-profits, or private companies
Professional health authority licensing officials, operating independently, monitor all seniors facilities and inspect them regularly to ensure they are held to the high legislated standards.
In the fall of 2008, we launched a new website providing information to the public about care facilities, including issues regarding care concerns, to improve transparency in the sector.
We also committed to establishing a registry for residential care aides, so British Columbians can be confident that when a care aide is disciplined by one care facility, it’s tracked and shows up if they attempt to find work at another care facility.
In 2008 we established Patient Care Quality Review Boards for all health regions to provide a consistent, timely and transparent process for patients to register complaints about service quality or clinical appropriateness in the health system, including the residential care system.
We’ve built 5,896 new and 6,539 replacement residential care beds, assisted living and supportive housing units in communities across B.C. – that’s 12,435 new beds in total since 2001.
We’ve added more beds in every health authority:
VCHA - net 1,104 additional beds
FHA - net 1,702 additional beds
VIHA - net 1,520 additional beds
IHA - net 1,288 additional beds
NH - net 282 additional beds
We currently spend about $2.25 billion on home and community care for seniors, up $686 million from 2001, an increase of 44 per cent. This includes:
Increasing spending on residential care and assisted living by more than 37 per cent since 2001, from just over $1.1 billion to more than $1.6 billion today.
Increasing spending on home care and home support by more than 61 per cent since 2001, from $404 million then to over $651 million today.
We’ve reduced wait times to access residential care from about one year in 2001, to an average of 15-90 days now.
62 per cent of residential care clients are paying the lowest daily rate for residential care – $30.90 per day – one of the lowest client rates in all of Canada.
In the last four years the number of home support and home care clients have each increased by 14 per cent.
Approximately 71 per cent of all home support recipients pay absolutely nothing at all.
23 per cent more clients received home care services (nursing and community rehabilitation) in 2008 than in 2001.
Between 2001 and 2008 the average number of care hours per home support client increased by 23 per cent, from 198 hours to 243 hours per client.
The number of publicly subsidized hospice beds in BC has quintupled from 57 in 2001 to 275 today – an increase of 382 per cent.
In the 1990s, the NDP limited seniors’ care options to home support and state-run residential care. Today, we’ve added supportive housing and assisted living units to the continuum of care to provide seniors with more options.
