Mr. Speaker, our population is aging and I see two problems looming. One is that a lot of older people will either choose to be treated at home and to go through an illness in the comfort of their own home or in some cases there are no hospital beds for long term patients because a lot of illnesses suffered by elderly people are long term.
Does the minister have any plan or vision for how these individuals can be realistically treated without simply transferring the burden of their care to the family or having unqualified, or unsuitable or unreliable assistance that really does not meet the needs of the patients and families?
The second question is about patients who do not need to be hospitalized but do need some kind of care. Increasingly there are no facilities to which these patients can be moved, so hospital beds are taken up unnecessarily, and these patients simply have no where to go and no one to care for them. This is not only a problem today but will be an increasing problem.
Could the minister tell the House about his vision, plans and what he is doing about it?