Hospital will only fine patients who refuse long-term care spots as a last resort, CEO says

The head of Windsor Regional Hospital says that fining patients for remaining in their hospital beds rather than going to a designated long-term care facility will only come after several steps are taken.

"That is the last thing that is going to happen," David Musyj, CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) said. 

"The main point of this legislation is to allow better conversation, allow a more fulsome conversation with respect to what the opportunities are, be it in the long-term care sector and or at home with supports."

On Sunday, a component of Ontario's Bill 7 kicked in — the controversial legislation that passed in late August with no public input and unsupported by the opposition parties before coming into effect in September. Ontario hospitals are now required to charge a mandatory fee of $400 per day to discharged patients who refuse to go to a long-term care home arranged on their behalf.

The legislation was made in an effort to free up acute care beds and create space for the backlog of surgeries and overall crunch on the health-care system. 

WRH, Erie Shores Heathcare and Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare all told the CBC Windsor on Monday that nobody in their care had been fined as of Monday.

Musyj said that he credits the legislation for bringing patient numbers down at a crucial time when the hospital is seeing a surge in respiratory illnesses such as RSV, COVID-19 and influenza.

"But for having these arguably 14, 15, 16 extra beds a day, that would just put pressure on the system, that would back up the emergency department even further," Musyj said.

Hospitals do say, however, that the legislation has helped shift patients away from beds.

Erie Shores Healthcare said there are two patients waiting to go into long-term care this week, typically that number is between seven and 10.

At Hotel Dieu Grace, there are six people waiting as compared to an average of eight, and WRH saw the biggest shift saying that they are down from an average of 30 patients on average to 14 this week.

Advocates, however are asking that the legislation be struck down and say that it ignores the rights of elderly patients. Both the Ontario Health Coalition and Advocacy Centre for the elderly are planning to launch a constitutional challenge against the law. 

"I think Bill 7 is a horrific piece of legislation because it removes people's rights under the charter and I think it coerces them and that vulnerable and frail portion are still citizens," Shirley Roebuck, a board member with Ontario Health Coalition said. 

"They're still human beings and they still have rights."