Curateur public - Rehabilitation Centre: Inappropriate resources for a senior citizen under curatorship

The Curateur public represented a 73-year-old man housed in a healthcare institution that in the last four years had ceased to meet his needs. A transfer had been requested over two years earlier, but he still had not been moved.

This individual had mental health problems, was no longer independent, and had a mild intellectual disability. The complaint was filed by members of his family, who noted that the man was living in an inappropriate facility in a remote region that was difficult for them to reach for visits.

The complaint concerned:

• the failure of the Curateur public to provide the man with appropriate accommodations.

The Québec Ombudsman’s investigation revealed that:

• the patient lived in a rehabilitation center for intellectual disabilities, and had been waiting for a transfer for close to two years;
• the wait for his transfer was caused by the complexity of the situation and the multidimensional nature of his problems: loss of independence, mental health issues, and a mild disability;
• the transfer application involved a change of administrative region;
• the health and social services agencies involved disagreed on admission criteria and the man’s priority level;
• the rehabilitation center described its relations with the Curateur public as “good;”
• the Curateur public had undertaken a series of steps to make the man’s case a higher priority. The Curateur public had also sought the Ombudsman’s assistance on this issue.

In response to the Ombudsman’s intervention, the Curateur public:

• put pressure on health and social services authorities to make the decision to move the man to an institution closer to his family and better able to meet the needs associated with his loss of physical autonomy and his cognitive condition.

In response to this intervention, the man’s case was reclassified as a priority, allowing him to be moved to an appropriate facility as soon as a space became available.