Short-Stay Services

Short-stay services are provided, usually for less than three months, for people who require care as follows:

• Convalescent care is provided to clients with defined and stable care needs who require a supervised environment for reactivation or recuperation, usually prior to discharge home, and most commonly following an acute episode of care.
• Hospice care is provided to clients who require support with comfort, dignity and quality of life in the final days or weeks of their lives.
• Respite care provides a client’s main caregiver a period of relief, or to provide a client with a period of supported care to increase their independence.

What are the short-stay services eligibility criteria?

In addition to the general eligibility criteria for home and community care services, to be eligible for publicly subsidized long-term care you must:

• have been assessed as requiring short-stay services;
• have agreed to pay the applicable daily rate; and
• have agreed to vacate the long-term care home at the end of the agreed upon period of short-stay services.

To read the general eligibility criteria for all home and community care services, please see:

• Are You Eligible?

How do I arrange for short-stay services?

If you are interested in receiving short-stay services or know of someone who might be in need of these services, you can contact the home and community care office of your health authority or you can have a health care professional make a referral on your behalf.

For contact information and a detailed description of how to arrange for short-stay services, please see:

• How to Arrange for Care

Veterans please note:

If you are a veteran and you are eligible for home and community care services, your health authority is required to contact Veterans Affairs Canada for an assessment of eligibility for federal benefits and arrange your placement on their veterans’ priority access bed waitlist in those facilities with veterans’ priority access beds.

Is there a cost for short-stay services?

If you receive publicly subsidized short-stay services, you will pay a fixed daily rate of $46.59 per day.

The daily rate for short-stay services is adjusted each year. It is calculated by multiplying the minimum monthly rate for long-term care services by 12 months and dividing by 365 days. For 2024, the daily rate is calculated as:

• [($1,417.00 multiplied by 12) divided by 365 = $46.59].

For more general information on the costs of publicly subsidized home and community care services in B.C., please see:

• Who Pays for Care?

What if I cannot afford the daily rate?

If you are receiving short-stay services and payment of the fixed daily rate would cause you or your family serious financial hardship, or mean that you (or your spouse, if applicable) would be unable to maintain the family home or unit, you may be eligible for a reduced rate.

Serious financial hardship means that payment of the daily rate would result in you (or your spouse, if applicable) being unable to pay for:

• adequate food;
• monthly mortgage/rent;
• sufficient home heat;
• prescribed medication; or
• other required prescribed health care services.

For more information on eligibility and how to apply for a temporary reduction of the daily rate, please see:

• Temporary Reduction of Your Client Rate