Province to fund 3,000 continuing care beds

The provincial government is adding 3,000 continuing care beds across Alberta over the next three years, officials said Wednesday.

Carewest Garrison Green, which opened this month in southwest Calgary, will have 200 of the 1,100 spaces coming online this year.

Place Beauséjour in Beaumont, just south of Edmonton, will feature 38 designated assisted living spaces for seniors, Alberta Health Services (AHS) said.

The additional beds will immediately start to ease pressure on the number of patients waiting in hospital for a continuing care bed, the province said in a release.

About 244 patients on any given day are waiting in hospital for a continuing care placement in Calgary, and roughly 257 are waiting in Edmonton, according to AHS.

"By increasing the supply and choice of affordable continuing care spaces, we are providing seniors with more options to remain in their community, close to family and friends," said Mary Anne Jablonski, minister of seniors and community supports.

NDP accuse province of inflating numbers

The new spaces are in addition to the more than 19,500 continuing care spaces currently available, the province said.

However, in May the opposition NDP accused the government of inflating that number by several hundred, counting beds which — according to some facility operators — simply do not exist.

The NDP also claimed there are 1,700 people on waiting lists for long-term care.

Alberta Health Services cut long-term care funding by three per cent in August in an attempt to reduce a budget shortfall of $1.1 billion.

In January, Alberta Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky cancelled a plan to close nearly 300 acute care hospital beds in Edmonton and Calgary and to transfer patients to community-based spaces.

The government hoped the plan — originally announced last fall — would save $51.4 million by 2012. But critics said the province was trying to cut costs by moving seniors from publicly funded hospitals to private facilities.

About two-thirds of the long-term care spaces in Alberta are run by private operators or not-for-profit groups, while the rest are publicly operated and covered by medicare.