Ontarians are split almost down the middle on whether they support freeing up hospital beds by moving patients to long-term care homes that they didn't choose, a new poll shows.

Thanks to Bill 7, which Premier Doug Ford's government passed a month ago, hospitals will soon begin charging patients $400/day if they're discharged but refuse to move to a long-term care facility that was selected for them.

The Angus Reid Institute, run by its namesake pollster, recently took Ontarians' temperature on the plan by asking 1,052 members of its polling pool in the province which of the following two statements more accurately describes their view:

The government should try to free up acute care beds in hospital, even if it means moving patients into long-term care homes that they did not choose.
Moving patients out of acute care beds in hospital and into long-term care homes is a violation of the patients’ rights and should not be considered.

Slightly more, 53 per cent in total, chose the second option, saying they felt Bill 7's changes violate patients' rights, which they disagree with. The other 47 per cent said they felt it was necessary.

When grouped by which party they recently voted for, two-thirds (66 per cent) of PC voters said they supported Bill 7's changes, whereas 69 per cent of NDP voters and three-in-five (60 per cent) of Liberal voters were against it.

Younger adults (those aged 18-34) and older adults (aged 55-plus) were split virtually down the middle, while about six-in-10 (59 per cent) of 35- to 54-year-olds were against Bill 7.

"I'm guided by ensuring that the people that we serve have the best quality of care at the right place at the right time," Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra said on Wednesday when asked about the Angus Reid Institute poll.

Calandra introduced Bill 7 on Aug. 18, hours after he and Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced other plans to relieve pressure on Ontario's hospitals, which have faced capacity challenges — including emergency room closures — over the last few months. Plans including Bill 7's changes, capping the number of COVID-19 isolation beds in long-term care homes, letting private clinics do more OHIP-covered surgeries, hiring thousands of more nurses and letting paramedics steer patients to places other than ERs are meant to make north of 2,500 hospital beds available.

READ MORE: Ford government unveils sweeping health-care changes in response to hospital crisis

The PCs fast-tracked Bill 7's passage and voted it into law on Aug. 31. Regulations finalized and announced just a few weeks ago determined the $400/day charge for hospital patients who refuse to be moved to long-term care homes, as well as distance limits on how far patients could be moved of 70-kilometres in southern Ontario and 150-kilometre in northern Ontario, with some exceptions.

Since late last month, placement coordinators have had permission to talk to alternate level of care patients and their families about moving into long-term care homes that have been chosen for them. Nurses or doctors in hospitals have cleared these patients for discharge. Calandra has promised repeatedly that patients will be moved to long-term care homes where they'll receive better care than in a hospital.

"I do understand that change is always going to be difficult, and I get it, so I don't want to dismiss peoples' fears, but I can tell them that it (Bill 7) is guided on ensuring the best quality care at the right place at the right time," Calandra added on Wednesday.

He was questioned after an event he held in Etobicoke to highlight $57.6 million that the government has promised to spend over the next three years to recruit and hire up to 225 nurse practitioners in long-term care. The funding isn't a new commitment; it's part of the PC government's Hiring More Nurse Practitioners for Long-Term Care program, which it announced in last year's fall economic statement.

Ontarians split on moving patients into nursing homes they don’t choose: poll

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