Four ways Christy Clark is failing seniors – and how we’ll do better.

Seniors give so much to our communities and deserve dignity and respect, no matter where they live.

But after 16 years of Christy Clark’s BC Liberals, seniors are facing big challenges – and even bigger cuts to services they count on.

Here are four ways Christy Clark’s choices aren’t working for BC seniors:

1- Need a bath? You might have to wait.

Nine out of ten seniors’ care homes are understaffed under Christy Clark.

According to the BC Seniors Advocate, a lack of staffing hours and time can have serious consequences on seniors' quality of life – even leading to depression.

2- No place like home? Not anymore.

Home support hours were cut in 2016 while the number of British Columbians who need home care has increased.

In one year, BC's population over the age of 65 grew by 4.3% according to the Seniors Advocate.

The number of seniors across the province is increasing – so we need to boost the number of home support hours, not decrease them.

3- Ready to move into in a seniors home? Get on the list.

Wait times for seniors homes are going up, and the percentage of seniors admitted into care homes is going down.

If you were waiting for a spot in a BC senior home in 2016, your wait was an average of 46 days – compared to 40 in 2015.

4- Waiting for surgery? You’re not alone.

BC lags well behind most of Canada for wait times for key surgeries like hip and knee replacements and cataract surgeries.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, people in the province waited longer to receive joint replacement and cataract surgery in 2016 compared to 2012.

For thousands of seniors across BC, Christy Clark’s choices have made it harder to get by.

John Horgan and the BC NDP will make seniors a priority and work hard to fix the services you count on.

  • We’ll help seniors stay in their homes longer by increasing the time care workers can spend with them.
  • We’ll improve the quality and consistency of care in care homes.
  • We’ll build quality seniors’ care facilities, helping seniors transition to quality care closer to home, and live with greater dignity.
  • We’ll reduce surgery wait times by reorganizing and making more effective use of existing resources. We’ll also expand on innovative approaches to reducing waitlists that are proven to work.

And we’ll do all of this in a way that puts seniors, their caregivers and their families first.

If you care about seniors and their care, we encourage you to vote for John Horgan’s BC NDP on May 9th.

Commit your vote here, or learn more about our full list of commitments to British Columbia here.