{
  "id": "long-term-care-wait",
  "category": "Health care access",
  "title": "Average wait for a long-term care bed, Island Health",
  "geography": "Island Health (Vancouver Island and nearby islands)",
  "scope": "province",
  "levels": [
    "Provincial (health system)",
    "Island Health"
  ],
  "plain_question": "How many days had people on Island Health’s list for a long-term care home been waiting, on average, at the end of March?",
  "value": 290,
  "display_value": "290",
  "unit": "days on average, March 31, 2025",
  "period": "March 31, 2025",
  "period_start": "2025-03-31",
  "period_end": "2025-03-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "March 31, 2024",
    "previous_value": 246,
    "change_percent": 17.9
  },
  "trend": "worsening",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "A shorter average wait means people get a long-term care bed sooner.",
  "trend_basis": "290 days on average for the 2,171 people waiting in Island Health on March 31, 2025, against 246 days (2,157 people) a year earlier. Median 229 days. B.C.: 287 days, 7,029 people waiting.",
  "since_text": "2,171 people waiting (2024: 2,157). B.C. 287 days. Median 229 days.",
  "compare_text": "B.C. 287 days",
  "caveats": [
    "From the Office of the Seniors Advocate’s yearly Monitoring Seniors Services data tables, which take the figures from each health authority. It is the average time people still on the waitlist on March 31 had been waiting, not the wait of people admitted.",
    "Island Health covers all of Vancouver Island; no Greater Victoria figure is published.",
    "The B.C. average is the Seniors Advocate’s weighted average of the health authorities."
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Average days waiting for long-term care (people on the list on March 31)",
      "fmt": "int",
      "unit": "days",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Island Health",
          "area": "island",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 136
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 140
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 173
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 199
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 246
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 290
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "British Columbia",
          "area": "bc",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 144
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 198
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 205
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 209
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 241
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 287
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "People waiting for long-term care on March 31, Island Health",
      "fmt": "int",
      "unit": "people",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Island Health",
          "area": "island",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 825
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 754
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 1242
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 1662
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 2157
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 2171
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2020",
      "value": 136
    },
    {
      "period": "2021",
      "value": 140
    },
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 173
    },
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": 199
    },
    {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 246
    },
    {
      "period": "2025",
      "value": 290
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "Yearly (Seniors Advocate, Monitoring Seniors Services)",
  "source": {
    "name": "Office of the Seniors Advocate, Monitoring Seniors Services 2025, data tables",
    "url": "https://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/monitoring-seniors-services/",
    "dataset_url": "https://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/app/uploads/sites/4/2026/03/data-tables-monitoring-seniors-services-2025.pdf",
    "download_url": "https://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/app/uploads/sites/4/2026/03/data-tables-monitoring-seniors-services-2025.pdf",
    "locator": "Office of the Seniors Advocate, Monitoring Seniors Services 2025, data tables, table 1.8.7 “Waitlist for placement into long-term care, at March 31”, rows VIHA (Island Health) and B.C.",
    "reads": "VIHA average wait time (days): 2020 136, 2021 140, 2022 173, 2023 199, 2024 246, 2025 290",
    "page_url": "https://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/app/uploads/sites/4/2026/03/data-tables-monitoring-seniors-services-2025.pdf#page=57",
    "page": 57
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Public data, not under an open licence. Used with attribution.",
    "url": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
    "open": false
  },
  "verified_text": [
    "CLIENTS WAITING 825 754 1,242 1,662 2,157 2,171",
    "AVERAGE WAIT TIME 136 140 173 199 246 290",
    "AVERAGE WAIT TIME 144 198 205 209 241 287"
  ],
  "data_published": "2026-03-25",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-13T05:30:12Z",
  "attribution": "Source: Office of the Seniors Advocate, Monitoring Seniors Services 2025, data tables. Public document, used with attribution; not endorsed by the publisher.",
  "licence_type": "public",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "service result",
  "better_measure": null,
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "The change is 17.9% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": {
      "period": "March 31, 2024",
      "value": 246,
      "text": "vs March 31, 2024: +17.9%"
    },
    "five_year": {
      "period": "2020",
      "years": 5,
      "value": 136,
      "comparable": true,
      "text": "vs 2020: +113.2%"
    }
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "outcome",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "worse",
    "label": "Worse",
    "arrow": "▲",
    "rel": 17.9,
    "delta": null,
    "vs": "March 31, 2024",
    "cur": "March 31, 2025",
    "why": "The change is 17.9% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold.",
    "change": "18%",
    "one_year": "+17.9%",
    "five": {
      "period": "2020",
      "comparable": true,
      "rel": 113.23529411764706,
      "text": "+113.2%",
      "years": 5
    }
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 5,
    "rung_name": "No target found",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "none",
        "label": "No target found",
        "text": "No target for the wait for a long-term care bed found in the Ministry of Health 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan (February 2026), as of November 12, 2026. Who could set one: the Province of B.C. and Island Health.",
        "area": "British Columbia",
        "source": {
          "title": "Ministry of Health 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan",
          "publisher": "Province of B.C.",
          "date": "February 2026",
          "url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2026/sp/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
          "terms": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
          "refresh": "Yearly, with the provincial budget (February)",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "moh_sp"
        },
        "documents_checked": null
      },
      {
        "kind": "related",
        "label": "Related target",
        "text": "Related target, not drawn: the same plan aims to lower the share of new long-term care residents who could have been cared for at home, from 13.3% (2025/26 forecast) to 13.0% in 2026/27 and 12.4% in 2028/29. It measures who is admitted, not how long people wait.",
        "area": "British Columbia",
        "source": {
          "title": "Ministry of Health 2026/27 to 2028/29 Service Plan",
          "publisher": "Province of B.C.",
          "date": "February 2026",
          "url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2026/sp/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
          "terms": "https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/home/copyright",
          "refresh": "Yearly, with the provincial budget (February)",
          "licence": "Public document, not under an open licence. Quoted with attribution.",
          "checked": "2026-11-12",
          "key": "moh_sp",
          "page": 8
        },
        "documents_checked": null
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "benchmarks": [
    {
      "rung": 2,
      "kind": "related",
      "label": "Related target, not drawn: the same plan aims to lower the share of new long-term care residents who could have been cared for at home, from 13.3% (2025/26 forecast) to 13.0% in 2026/27 and 12.4% in 2028/29. It measures who is admitted, not how long people wait.",
      "short": null,
      "document": "moh_sp",
      "page": 8,
      "area": "British Columbia",
      "fit": "text_only",
      "same_area": false,
      "related_reason": "Different unit, definition, period or area; written under the chart, not drawn.",
      "document_url": "https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2026/sp/pdf/ministry/hlth.pdf",
      "applies_here": false,
      "same_measure": false
    }
  ],
  "highest_rung": 5,
  "no_target_found": {
    "documents_checked": [
      "moh_sp"
    ],
    "checked_on": "2026-11-12",
    "who_could_set": [
      "Province of B.C. and Island Health"
    ]
  },
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "BC",
      "name": "Province of B.C.",
      "decides": "Sets provincial standards for health services and appoints Island Health’s board.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "haa3",
          "label": "Health Authorities Act, s. 3",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96180_01#section3"
        },
        {
          "key": "haa4",
          "label": "Health Authorities Act, s. 4",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96180_01#section4"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "IH",
      "name": "Island Health",
      "decides": "Plans and runs health services in the region: which services, which facilities and the programs that deliver them.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "haa5",
          "label": "Health Authorities Act, s. 5",
          "url": "https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96180_01#section5"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "Province of B.C.",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "worse",
    "label": "Worse"
  },
  "label_long": {
    "key": "worse",
    "label": "Worse",
    "years": 5,
    "change": "+113.2%"
  },
  "target_line": {
    "form": 4,
    "text": "No target found · B.C. 287 days",
    "target": null,
    "gap": null,
    "comparison": "B.C. 287 days",
    "applies_here": false,
    "note": null
  }
}