Long-Term Care Placements

Placements

Placement Decisions

Placements are managed by a case manager from the Home and Community Care office, not by the facility operators. Placements are filled according to specific criteria:

• the level of need and level risk to the adult where they are currently living;
• the person’s preferred facilities; and
• whether the preferred facility can meet their care needs.

Typically, people with the highest risk level are given priority.(1) Veterans Affairs Canada also designate priority access beds(2).

Facility operators will provide the case manager with an opinion on whether their facility can meet the needs of the prospective resident.

Waiting periods may vary based on the personal criteria above, as well as overall availability of spaces. Some health authorities provide information about approximate wait times online.

When an adult has been approved for subsidized placement in a care facility, health authorities have obligations to support the adult while they are in community waiting to enter the facility. Health authorities must ensure that adults in this situation are supported with:

• a care plan that meets their needs while waiting for access; and
• an increase in availability and flexibility of community health services, where required.(3)

Placement Offers

When an appropriate facility becomes available, the case manager will contact the adult or their representative to offer a placement. There is only a very short time to accept or decline the offer and move in –– 48 hours if it is a space in one of the person’s preferred facilities, and 72 hours if it is in a temporary interim facility. This means that the decision is often made quickly.(4)

Therefore, it is important to be well informed and prepared in advance for this decision. This includes planning for the move during the waiting period, which may involve downsizing significantly, arranging ongoing medical care, organizing finances, and learning about the potential consequences of accepting or declining the placement offered.

Interim Placement Offers

Your waitlist date will be the date you choose your preferred care home. You will maintain your position on the waitlist regardless of where you are waiting. An adult may accept an interim placement without impacting their waitlist date.(5)

The Ministry of Health’s Home and Community Care Policy Manual requires health authorities to:

• allow the client or substitute to change their choices of preferred care homes up until they are offered care and accommodation in one of their preferred care homes with no impact to their original waitlist date;
• decline an interim placement with no penalty;
• ensure a client maintains their place on the waitlist for their preferred care homes while waiting for admission, even if they move into an interim care home; and
• manage a client’s requested transfer to a preferred care home fairly when the client has accepted temporary placement in an interim facility.(6)

If a person is in hospital and declines an offer of interim or preferred long-term care placement they will be charged a daily rate for hospital acute care while they remain in hospital.(7)

If a person declines placement in an interim or a preferred facility, they will be advised of other care options, including subsidized care, private care, and family caregivers. If they are declining because they want to change their preferred facility, their waitlist date will be changed to the date of the change.(8)

If a person living in an interim long-term care facility decides they wish to remain at this interim facility, they can decide to do so and be removed from the waitlist for their previous preferred facilities.(9)

References

1. British Columbia, Ministry of Health, “Home and Community Care Policy Manual,” (6 February 2023) at ch 6.C, 6.D, online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/accountability/policy-and-standards/home-and-community-care-policy-manual>.
2. Canada, “Long-term Care” (last modified February 8, 2019), online: <http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/housing-and-home-life/long-term-care>; British Columbia, Ministry of Health, “Home and Community Care Policy Manual,” (6 February 2023) at ch 6.D, online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/accountability/policy-and-standards/home-and-community-care-policy-manual>.
3. British Columbia, Ministry of Health, “Home and Community Care Policy Manual,” (6 February 2023) at ch 6.D, online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/accountability/policy-and-standards/home-and-community-care-policy-manual>.
4. British Columbia, Ministry of Health, “Home and Community Care Policy Manual,” (6 February 2023) at ch 6.D, online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/accountability/policy-and-standards/home-and-community-care-policy-manual>.
5. British Columbia, “Long-Term Care Services,” online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/care-options-and-cost/long-term-care-services>.
6. British Columbia, Ministry of Health, “Home and Community Care Policy Manual,” (6 February 2023) at ch 6.D, online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/accountability/policy-and-standards/home-and-community-care-policy-manual>.
7. British Columbia, Ministry of Health, “Home and Community Care Policy Manual,” (6 February 2023) at ch 6.D, online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/accountability/policy-and-standards/home-and-community-care-policy-manual>.
8. British Columbia, Ministry of Health, “Home and Community Care Policy Manual,” (6 February 2023) at ch 6.D, online: <http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/accessing-health-care/home-community-care/accountability/policy-and-standards/home-and-community-care-policy-manual>.

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Seniors First BC, February 2024.