Ontario’s senior population is on the rise. With hospitals and long-term care facilities doing their best to accommodate the aging population, the provincial government has proposed a project to address this need. The government has come up with a strategy that will see funds given directly to patients to allow them to design their own program for self-directed home care.

What is self-directed home care?

Dr. Eric Hoskins, the Minister of Health and Long-term Care for the province of Ontario, announced this past summer that a three-year plan was proposed to give patients and their caregivers more control over the home care services they can receive.

Self-directed home care will allow patients to choose their own care provider and determine how and when they receive it. Hoskins stated that many patients actually prefer to get care in their own homes where they are comfortable. He further claimed that home-care patients heal faster when they are in an environment of their choosing, in this case, their own homes.

What are the benefits of self-directed home care?

With this type of care there are numerous benefits to the patient and the hospitals that would ordinarily be treating them. First, self-directed care frees up hospital beds. The lack of room at Ontario’s hospitals and senior care facilities is a growing problem and self-directed advantages will rectify this. Second, by allowing a patient to determine their own care means, they will feel more in control of their treatment.

Sometimes patients are given treatment options that, although they are effective, the patient doesn’t fully understand. With self-directed home care, patients will be able to not only understand the treatment they are receiving but also choose how they receive it. This type of care empowers patients by letting them manage their own healthcare.

What funding will be available for patients?

Funding will depend on the patient’s needs. Pilot projects are set up across the province to determine how funds will be delivered and what programs will be available from meal delivery to medication to nursing and counselling services. The Ontario government hopes to have self-directed home care running fully by 2017.

Self-directed home care provides patients with a comfortable setting in which they can recoup from illness, receive medication and enjoy the benefits of overall good health. For more information about self-directed home care for you or a your loved one, contact C-Care Health Services.