The Ontario government has announced it is increasing the amount of direct care given to residents of long-term care homes.
Premier Doug Ford said during his daily media briefing on Monday afternoon that the minimum standard of care for residents in long-term care will be increased from an average of 2.7 hours a day to four hours a day by 2025. Ford said COVID-19 has shone a light on long-term care problems and his government is going to fix it.
"I made a promise to long-term care residents, their families and their caregivers that we would deliver better care for our seniors," said Premier Ford. "Today, we are delivering on that promise and acting on the early recommendations of Ontario's Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission. By increasing the hours of daily direct care for residents, we will improve their quality of life and ensure they are more comfortable and safe."
Ford said the increase in care will mean the hiring of "thousands and thousands" of personal support workers. But NDP leader Andrea Horwath says the Premier shouldn't be given credit, since he's been dragging his feet on improving the level of care for the long-term care residents.
"The QC govt hired 10,000 PSWs this summer to be ready for the second wave," she said in a tweet on Monday. "The BC govt: 7,000. Meanwhile the staffing crisis is getting worse in Ontario while Ford dithered & delayed on action needed to save lives in care."
The province plans to have the changes done by 2024-2025. It's plan includes direct hands-on care by nurses or personal support workers to support individual clinical and personal care needs, setting targets and measuring and reporting progress regularly, recruiting and training tens of thousands of new personal support workers, registered practical nurses and registered nurses, and hiring an additional 3,700 frontline workers for its health workforce.
The province said the increase in care hours builds on supports recently announced for long-term care, including investing $1.75 billion over five years to increase long-term care capacity and spaces for seniors, and to build 30,000 new long-term care beds over 10 years. The government also plans to build new long-term care homes, adding 1,280 beds by early 2022.