British ColumbiaA hospice on mid-Vancouver Island says the province’s recent changes to long-term care funding has halved the number of beds it has available — a problem that a provincial association says could spread to hospices across B.C. Company operating the hospice says temporary cuts are a result of the province phasing out contract nursesMaryse Zeidler · CBC News · Posted: Nov 13, 2025 10:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 6 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Oceanfront Village is a long-term care home operated by Golden Life Management that also includes six hospice beds. (Google Maps)A hospice society on mid-Vancouver Island says the province’s recent changes to funding for long-term care staffing has halved the number of beds it has available — a problem that a provincial association says could spread to hospices across B.C. The executive director of the Comox Valley Hospice Society, which supports the Aitken Community Hospice at the Ocean Front Village seniors’ facility in Courtenay, B.C., says she recently was told the number of beds at the facility would be temporarily reduced from six to three. “We are pretty shocked,” said Christine Colbert. “We had no idea that this was a possibility.”Colbert says the beds will be cut by attrition — as patients die new patients will not be taken on. Anyone needing hospice care who cannot be accommodated will be redirected to nearby communities, she says.The cuts are part of a contingency plan put forth by Golden Life Management, the company that runs Ocean Front Village and several other seniors facilities in B.C., in response to the Ministry of Health phasing out pandemic-era funding for contract nurses and overtime. Read more news from Vancouver IslandEssential fundingIn a written statement, Golden Life Management vice-president Celeste Mullin said the temporary closure was “an extremely difficult step” reached in close collaboration with Island Health after the province said it would end contract nurse funding with 37 days’ notice.”That funding had been essential in supplementing the limited labour pool and keeping both hospice and long-term care safely staffed,” Mullin said. “With only 37 days’ notice, there was not enough time to respond to the complex staffing challenges impacting both our region and communities across B.C., and it became clear we could not maintain staffing ratios.” The B.C. Hospice and Palliative Care Association says long-term care homes and hospices are very different, and should be funded separately. (Pascal Pochard-Casabianca/AFP via Getty Images)In a written statement, B.C.’s Health Ministry told CBC News that long-term care and assisted living operators have used the temporary pandemic funding in different ways.Now that the funding has been rescinded, “health authorities are working closely with operators to mitigate operational challenges.””The hospice beds will be re-opened as soon as stable staffing levels are in place to support safe patient care,” the ministry said.”We remain committed to strengthening our workforce that long-term care and assisted living facilities depend on.”‘These are not interchangeable systems’Colbert says the cuts were initially supposed to last until the end of March 2026, but she was then told the staffing shortages could be resolved as soon as December. Either way, Colbert is concerned that hospice care will continue to be the first to take the hit when there are staffing shortages. The B.C. Hospice Palliative Care Association (BCHPCA) says it’s deeply concerned about the temporary closure, which highlights the need to separate funding for hospice care from other parts of the health-care system.National guidelines recommend seven hospice beds per 100,000 people; the Comox Valley has around 70,000 residents. (Corbis)”These are not interchangeable systems,” said Pablita Thomas, executive director of the BCHPCA, in a written statement.“Hospice beds support people at the most vulnerable moment of their lives, the final days or weeks. These closures, though temporary, highlight how fragile that access can be without dedicated safeguards.” Thomas says national guidelines require seven hospice beds per 100,000 people. The Comox Valley has around 77,000 residents. Many hospice beds across the province are co-located in long-term care homes, Thomas says, often supported or co-operated by hospice societies. About 20 are operated by hospice societies in small communities like Courtenay, while about another 80 hospices are operated by a health authority. The BCHPCA says more then 120,000 people access hospice care each year in B.C.ABOUT THE AUTHORMaryse Zeidler is an award-winning reporter who covers news from Nanaimo and north Vancouver Island. Have a news tip? You can reach her at maryse.zeidler@cbc.ca.
B.C association worries hospice cuts on Vancouver Island could set precedent across the province
