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The Daily


Thursday, November 22, 2007
2005/2006

Canada's 4,291 residential care facilities—public, private and not-for-profit—looked after a growing number of people in the fiscal year 2005/2006, from the elderly to those with mental health problems.

These facilities provided cared for 235,916 residents, a 2.3% increase from 2004/2005, according to the most recent data from the Residential Care Facilities Survey.

The residential care sector reported total expenses of $13.7 billion, while revenues reached $13.5 billion. Expenses rose by just under $1 billion and revenues increased by just over $1 billion.

Residences for the aged dominated the industry, constituting 49% of facilities, 82% of beds and 80% of revenues. Facilities looking after people with mental health problems accounted for 45% of facilities, 15% of beds and 16% of revenues. The remainder included such facilities as centres for homeless people, delinquents and people with a physical disability.

The private sector dominated the provision of residential care for the aged. Private facilities represented 40% of total expenditures for such residences in 2005/2006, compared with 33% for public facilities and 28% for non-profits.

Private facilities also accounted for more than one-half (54%) of residences for the aged, with non-profit and public facilities having similar shares of the rest.

The private sector had 81,085 approved beds in facilities for the aged in 2005/2006. This corresponded to almost half (49%) of all beds. Private facilities had 76.4 beds per facility, and were smaller than non-profit facilities, which had 95.1, and public facilities, with 89.1.

Even though they accounted for almost half of beds, private facilities for the aged accounted for only 43% of full-time employees, 37% of part-time employees, 39% of paid hours and 36% of wages.

Therefore, the per-bed ratios for private facilities were lower than for the other types of facilities. For example, private facilities recorded 1,154 paid hours per bed, on average, compared with 1,598 hours for public facilities and 1,892 hours for non-profit facilities.

Private residences for the aged provided care at a lower cost than public or non-profit residences in 2005/2006. Private facilities had average expenditures of $39,001 per bed, compared with $52,845 for non-profit facilities and $59,421 for those that were publicly-owned, in Canada outside Quebec.

This difference held even after taking into account the level of care offered and the size of the facility. Private facilities had the lowest per-bed expenditures, public facilities had the highest, and non-profit facilities were in the middle.

Note: Expenditures per bed were calculated for all residences for the aged in Canada, excluding those in Quebec, since level-of-care data does not exist for this province. "Low" level of care corresponds to type I levels or lower. "Average" level of care corresponds to the type II level, where residents require supervision by doctors or nurses. "High" level corresponds to type III care and higher, where residents require specialized medical and nursing care.

Available on CANSIM: tables 107-5501 to 107-5512.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3210.

The publication Residential Care Facilities (83-237-XWE, free) is now available from the Publications module of our website.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Baudelaire Augustin (613-951-6083; baudelaire.augustin@statcan.gc.ca) or David Coish (613-951-4800; david.coish@statcan.gc.ca), Health Statistics Division.

For general information, contact Client Services (613-951-1746; fax: 613-951-4198; hd-ds@statcan.gc.ca), Health Statistics Division.

Tables. Table(s).