Ford's government plans to introduce legislation on Thursday that will allow health officials to transfer people in hospitals to long-term healthcare, according to senior government sources.

Senior government sources told CityNews that this means if a doctor says the patient no longer needs a hospital bed and should be in long-term care, this patient can be transferred to an available bed, even if it is far from where they want to be.

The change will begin within a few weeks and the government hopes to initially free up 250 beds in the coming months.

One of the main challenges hospitals faced this summer was system imbalance.

Currently, there are about 5,000 patient beds or 24 percent waiting to be discharged from the hospital to another place.

About 1,850 of these beds are for those waiting for long-term care.

The pressure on hospitals has been a big problem in recent months as some emergency rooms had to close due to staff shortages.

Interim NDP leader Peter Tabuns said on the matter that they strongly oppose the change. "It seems what they are doing is making life unreasonably difficult for an entire group of vulnerable people."

Last week, Premier Doug Ford hinted that the change is coming, stating that patients are better off in long-term care homes than in hospitals.

"They actually receive better and more focused care in long-term care."