VICTORIA, B.C.: New data from B.C.’s Seniors Advocate shows long-term care waitlists have more than tripled over the past decade, a failure Conservative Critic for Seniors and Rural Health Brennan Day says is the direct result of government inaction.

“This government knew the population was aging and chose not to plan and today, they have no plan to close this gap,” said Day. “As a result, more than 7,200 seniors are now stuck waiting for care, some for nearly a year, while families are pushed past their limits.”

The number of people waiting for a publicly funded long-term care bed has risen from 2,381 in 2016 to more than 7,200 today. Average wait times have nearly doubled to 290 days, with Fraser Health seeing increases of more than 500 per cent.

“This NDP government continues to forget about seniors,” said Day. “This isn’t a temporary backlog, it’s a structural failure. When wait times explode five-fold in some regions, that’s not a coincidence. That’s what happens when announcements replace delivery.”

B.C.’s senior population aged 75 and older has grown by 50 per cent over the past decade and is projected to rise another 49 per cent by 2035. Yet long-term care capacity has fallen from 77 beds per 1,000 seniors to just 58 today.

“Seniors did their part, paid into the system, and planned for retirement,” said Day. “Now the system is telling them to wait, and families are being forced to fill the gap because the government didn’t.”

The Seniors Advocate estimates B.C. will need nearly 16,000 new long-term care beds by 2036. The province already faces a shortfall of more than 2,000 beds.

“Announcements don’t care for seniors, beds and proper care does,” said Day. “Until this government starts building at the scale required, seniors will keep ending up in hospitals, emergency rooms will stay backed up, and families will keep paying the price.”

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