Editor:
The lack of sufficient long-term care facilities on the Coast continues to cause unacceptable utilization of beds at Sechelt Hospital for patients who could be cared for at much lower cost in nursing homes. In 2015-16, long-term care facilities in Canada represented 11 per cent of total health expenditures with public sources accounting for 70 per cent of total health care financing. Nationally private for-profit care homes represented 44 per cent, not for profits 30 per cent and public 27 per cent of facilities. Yet, here we are on the Sunshine Coast some four years later still debating private versus public ownership like it was some holy grail.
A number of arguments have been put forward that the facility must be publicly financed. We rarely if ever hear that privately owned homes might be more efficiently run because of better management and provide better care.
Politicians tout Canadian health care as the best in the world. It is not. We spend 11 per cent of our GDP on health, eight per cent from public funds. Yet of the 27 countries in the OECD, we are around 10th in health care outcomes although we are second as a percentage of our GDP. Something must change.
Our population on the Coast is over 50 per cent seniors. The urgency of providing space for us in our dotage cannot be overemphasized. Let’s get on with it.
Gordon Politeski, Halfmoon Bay
