Long-term care shortage leaves Surrey family scrambling to find bed for husband

Therese Poirier, retired and turning 80 this year, has lived in Surrey about 25 years. When her husband Leander Linder's health began deteriorating in March—he is 76, legally blind, and has diabetes and high blood pressure—the family realized he would need more care than they could provide at home. After several hospital visits, a caseworker assessed him as needing the assistance of two people to move him. The caseworker said Linder would be discharged the next day.

"This was at 11 o'clock on a Monday morning, and I'm looking at [the caseworker], and I'm saying, 'We're not equipped. What do we do?'" Poirier said. Her eldest son helped her empty the living room for hospital equipment—a bed, hoist, and wheelchair—that arrived immediately.

When the family began looking into a care home, they discovered a gap between hospital expectations and reality. The hospital said care homes would be available within six to nine months. When Poirier met with Fraser Health workers, they told her to expect one to two years instead.

According to Fraser Health, families can identify three preferred care homes that would best meet their needs, and placement on the waitlist is based on when those choices are made. In some exceptional circumstances, priority may be adjusted for people with the greatest needs. A person could also accept an interim placement in a long-term care home that has space available while waiting for a spot in their preferred home.

Costs of public care homes run up to 80 per cent of a person's income—usually $1,000 to $4,000 monthly. Private care homes cost $6,000 to $12,000 a month. For Linder, the equipment he needs—a hoist and wheelchair—costs $900 a month to rent or $12,000 to buy. After the hospital's free three-month window, Poirier must pay those costs.

B.C. Office of the Seniors Advocate Dan Levitt says the province is not keeping up with demand year after year. There were 7,000 people waiting for a bed in 2025; that figure has already risen to 8,000 this year—over a 200 per cent increase compared to 2020. Wait times have also grown from five months to about 10 months.

"Many are left navigating the process without clear information about timelines, about placement options, or the next steps," Levitt said. He worries this leaves seniors remaining in unsafe or unsustainable homes, while others wait in hospital beds intended for acute care, further overwhelming hospitals.