British Columbia

Woman with disability blames lack of home care on B.C. health authority funding inequities

A woman confined to a wheelchair, in New Westminster, B.C., blames the provincial health authority's funding formula for a lack of home-care services in the Fraser Health Authority region.

'I think Fraser Health is typically underfunded'

Barbara Yost has multiple sclerosis and says the 84 hours a month of home-support services that she gets amounts to "minimal care". (Jesse Johnston/CBC)

A woman confined to a wheelchair, in New Westminster, B.C., blames the provincial health authority's funding formula for a lack of home-care services in the Fraser Health Authority (FHA).

Barbara Yost lives with multiple sclerosis and needs more care now than she did when she was diagnosed 17 years ago. 

 A care provider visits the 62-year-old woman in her home four times a day for half an hour at a time.

"I dehydrate myself to avoid bladder accidents," said Yost, who needs assistance to use the bathroom. 

She says the care is minimal.  

"I think Fraser Health is typically underfunded and really doesn't have the support for people with disabilities. I think it would be different if I lived in Vancouver Health. They just have such different support for people with disabilities," said Yost. 

Yost is enrolled in the Choice in Supports for Independent Living (CSIL) program. 

CSIL is a self-directed option for eligible home support clients.

Yost receives funds directly from FHA to purchase and manage her own 84-hours-per-month of home support services.

"It's just that feeling of you're being warehoused and Fraser Health doesn't have enough money," she said. 

Health authority funding 

The B.C. Ministry of Health says a number of methodologies are used to allocate funding to health authorities across the province, including the needs of the population and the cost of wages. 

In an email to CBC, a ministry spokesperson said overall spending on home and community care services has increased 88 per cent to $2.9 billion over the past 16 years. 

The average number of hours of home support services per client per year including CSIL has increased from 212 to 263 hours over the same time. 

Yost maintains she should get more than three times the hours of care that she receives. 

The ministry says the amount and type of home support that a client receives is solely based on an assessment by his or her case manager. 

"The case manager, at our first meeting, she said basically I don't get more hours because we all have to share the funding and there's people and children with bigger issues than mine," said Yost. 

"It just seems so unfair. I was appalled by that comment."