Bill 7 aims to free up beds in hospitals by allowing a coordinator to admit hospital patients to an LTC home of the coordinator’s choice with the patient’s consent, nor with the consent of anyone who’s been designated as the person legally able to provide consent. There’s a few restrictions here, so let’s dig into the details!
Update: August 31, 2022
Bill 7 has passed its third reading and will come into effect at a date that’s yet to be determined.
Update: August 30, 2022
Bill 7 passed its second reading and will skip the committee phase to go straight to its third reading vote.
Update: August 29, 2022
The motion proposed by Michael Mantha (NDP, Algoma–Manitoulin) failed and the motion proposed by Andrea Khanjin (PC, Barrie–Innisfil) passed. Bill 7 no longer needs to go to committee and will instead be put to its second and third reading votes.
Update: August 25, 2022
A motion was proposed by Andrea Khanjin (PC, Barrie–Innisfil) to have this Bill, upon a successful second reading vote, skip the committee review phase and go immediately to its third reading vote the same day.
Michael Mantha (NDP, Algoma–Manitoulin) proposed an amendment to the motion that would send this Bill to the appropriate committee should it pass its second reading.
No votes on either the amendment nor the motion were held today.
First up this Act only applies if an attending clinician determines that a parient that currently occupies a bed needs an alternate level of care because the patient does not require the intensity of resources or services a hospital provides.
If the clinician believes a patient is eligible to be admitted to an LTC home they can request a coordinator to take steps to place the patient in one. When this happen the coordinator will determine the patient’s eligibility for admission to an LTC home, select a home for the patient (respecting any geographic regulations that may exist), provide the LTC home with the patient’s information, and authorize their admission to the home. Note that the coordinator does not require a clinician’s approval to do any of this, they can start this process on their own, they’re only required to start it if a clinician recommends it.
When this is done the LTC home must review the patient’s information and approve the admission unless there is a condition that would make the patient ineligible for admission. Once a bed at the LTC home is available and the patient presents themself they must be admitted.
This process may only be done without consent after “reasonable efforts” have been made to obtain consent. Not a lot of details on what counts as a “reasonable effort”. If consent is provided then the LTC admission process proceeds as it normally would.
The Act explicitly states that nothing in it authorizes anyone to restrain a patient to carry out the actions nor does it allow anyone to physically transfer a patient to an LTC home without consent. They can discharge you from the hospital and admit you to the LTC home, but they can’t strap you to a stretcher and drag you over there.
Nothing in this bill and any regulations involving it count as being inconsistent with the Residents’ Bill of Rights.
Health Care Consent Act
There’s a few changes here that are all put in to clarify that Bill 7 is an exception to the Health Care Consent Act, allowing actions to be taken without your consent.
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