VICTORIA, B.C.: Brennan Day, MLA for Courtenay-Comox and Critic for Seniors and Rural Health, has introduced a private members bill, the
Long Term Care Access and Transparency Act, legislation designed to bring transparency, accountability, and a clear public plan to British Columbia’s long-term care system.
“You cannot fix what you do not measure,” said Day. “Right now, families across British Columbia are navigating long-term care, hospice, and home supports in the dark. That has to change.”
The bill requires monthly, publicly accessible reporting from each health authority on:
- Total long-term care waitlists
- Median and maximum wait times
- The number of alternate level of care patients occupying hospital beds
- Admissions and deaths while waiting
- Transfers to non-preferred facilities
- Hospice bed capacity, occupancy, waitlists, and deaths while waiting
It also mandates disclosure of waitlists and access timelines for subsidized home support services.
In addition to monthly reporting, the legislation requires the Minister of Health to publish an annual report to the Legislature assessing long-term care capacity relative to population need, and to develop and update a public long-term care access plan each year. The plan must include measurable actions to reduce hospital backlogs, expand capacity, and improve patient flow from acute care to appropriate settings.
“There is no meaningful, transparent plan to address long-term care capacity in British Columbia,” said Day. “In fact, the most recent budget cancelled six long-term care projects at a time when our population is aging rapidly. British Columbians deserve to see the numbers, and they deserve to see the plan.”
Day emphasized that the legislation is nonpartisan and focused on accountability.
“There is no reason to oppose publishing accurate data and a clear plan, unless the goal is to obscure the scope of the problem,” he said. “We are prepared to work with government to fix this crisis. But decisions affecting seniors must be made in the open, not behind closed doors.”
This bill will now proceed through the legislative process
.
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