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City looking at long-term care options

BY Laurie Watt, STAFF February 09, 2010 06:02

BARRIE - Barrie wants a better bang for its long-term care buck.

City council has directed staff to look at ways to meet its Ontario Homes for the Aged and Rest Homes Act obligations rather than paying Simcoe County to provide the mandatory service.

“We’re asking staff to look at alternatives. This isn’t an indictment of the county’s current long-term care facilities,” said Coun. Barry Ward, who sits on the county’s Human Services Committee.

With 505 beds in four homes – Beeton, Collingwood, Orillia and Penetanguishene – the county spends $36 million a year on providing long-term care.

It bills Barrie for what it deems is its share, based on weighted assessment. Last year, the city paid the county a total of $25.8 million for an array of services – including land ambulance, Ontario Works, Social Housing, children’s services and long-term care. The long-term care portion amounted to $639,000 last year, and it’s rising to $819,000 this year.

Barrie residents, however, occupied 17 beds last year – $37,588 per person.

This year, as Barrie pays $819,000, the county projects there will be 16 Barrie residents in care. That amounts to $48,176 per person.

And Ward fears the cost could rise even more, as the county moves to a funding model that takes in full-value assessment.

“The bottom line is I don’t think we’re getting a good deal,” said Ward. “With less than 20 Barrie residents taking advantage of that, it means it’s not meeting our needs.”

Ward noted that since the county took over social services in the 1990s, more long-term care beds have been allocated to the city, in private and non-profit homes, including Victoria Village and the nursing home being built at Tollendal Village.

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