Manitoba providing financial assistance when hospital patients relocated

The Manitoba government is set to implement a new program that will provide financial assistance when a hospital patient is relocated to a facility outside their region.

The province announced the new program on Friday, saying it will provide assistance for meals, transportation and accommodations, and link people to community support resources.

The way the program works is that when a person is transferred outside of their community as a part of the inter-regional transfer policy, their regional health authority or service delivery organization will work with them and their designated support person to coordinate the financial assistance.

The program allows for up to eight visits a month by a designated support person and includes:

• Meal vouchers so the designated support person can eat with the patient when an on-site meal service is available. If an on-site meal service is not available, the program will provide a maximum of $8 for breakfast, $10 for lunch and $15 for dinner;
• Transportation help of return bus fare or gas expenses; and
• Help with accommodations of up to $70 per night plus taxes.

The program is in effect as of Friday. The province said it will work with about 250 patients that were transferred before Friday.

Dr. David Matear, health system co-lead of the Unified Health Sector Incident Command, said at a news conference that relocating patients is necessary to ensure Manitobans can access care in the most specialized health-care facilities.

“While we recognize the concerns of affected patients and their families about the distance from loved ones, we also appreciate their understanding that these transfers are necessary,” he said.

Matear said the interregional transfer protocol has resulted in 253 stable patients being transferred to facilities outside of their home region in the past three months. He noted this includes 39 transfers in the past week.

“As a reminder patients identified for transfer are assessed by a clinical team and matched to sites that can provide appropriate levels of care and that meet their needs,” Matear said.