6,000 Quebecers wait for spot in residential or long-term-care centres

Montreal Gazette: August 12 2010

BY JAMIE MCCALLUM, THE GAZETTE

MONTREAL – More than 6,000 Quebec senior citizens are on waiting lists for a spot in a residential or long-term-care centre, according to numbers obtained by the Association Quebecoise des retraite(e)s des secteurs public et parapublic (AQRP), an independent body that represents the interests and rights of retired Quebecers.

The statistics were compiled by the Health and Social Services Department after a request was submitted by the AQRP through the Access to Information Act. In the report, which includes only government-sponsored centres, the AQRP calls on Quebec to improve access to these centres, and to build more if necessary.

More than two-thirds of the 6,000 live in Montreal, with care centres in the city at 97-per-cent capacity.

“We think it’s an alarming situation when 6,000 people are waiting for places,” said Roch Perreault, vice-president of AQRP. While he admitted the government’s budget is tight, he stressed it somehow needs to find the money.

“We have an aging population, All aged people across the province are waiting to see what’s going to happen,”

The provincial government told reporters yesterday that creating 6,000 new spots in these institutions would cost Quebec $300 million per year. This is why the Charest government chose to invest $362 million in home care between 2003 and 2008 instead of creating new space at these centres, according to Lise Thériault, ex-minister of health and social services .

“People don’t want new places in residential centres,” she told reporters yesterday. “They want to live in their

Lise Thériault

homes for as long as they can.”

Thériault also indicated the same person can show up on two or three lists, increasing the total number.

Yesterday, one of the centres serving Montreal’s anglophone population told The Gazette its waiting list is more than 200 people, with some having to wait two to three years for a spot. Another said its waiting list was about 50 people.

The number people on waiting lists has risen from 5,800 to 6,000 in the past five years, according to Perreault.

Three-quarters of those on waiting lists are located in Montreal, Quebec City, and the Monteregie region, southeast of Montreal.

The institutions in question are often referred to as CHSLD (Centre d’hebergement et de soins de longue duree). Depending on the needs of the individual, the price is between $1,000 to $1,500 per month.

There are currently 45,000 people living in 401 of these institutions across Quebec.

As baby boomers head into retirement and birth rates slow down, Quebec will have more and more citizens over the age of 65. According to the provincial government website, the percentage of Quebecers 65 or older is expected to jump from 15 per cent in 2008 to 25 per cent in 2031.

Montreal Gazette: August 12 2010

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