The British Columbia Continuing Care system: service delivery and resource planning

The Ministry of Health and Ministry Responsible for Seniors in British Columbia, Canada, has developed a comprehensive and integrated service delivery system for the care of the elderly and the disabled. This system has a single point of entry, and contains all of the major components of Long-Term Care and Home Care services under one administrative umbrella, the Continuing Care Division. This paper presents on overview of the Division's service delivery system and its planning framework. The latter provides a vehicle for decision makers to pro-actively re-allocate resources from residential services to community and home-based services within Continuing Care.