JOINT STATEMENT: Pls sign the Joint Statement Calling for Improvements in Access and Care in Ontario’s Long Term Care Homes

Posted: June 8, 2018

We asking organizations to sign onto the following Joint Statement to improve care levels and access to care in Ontario’s long-term care homes. 

If your organization would like to sign onto the Joint Statement, please send an email to the Ontario Health Coalition at ohc@sympatico.ca using the subject line: LTC JOINT STATEMENT.  Please include your name and contact information and the full name of the organization signing onto the statement as you would like it to appear publicly.

The Ontario Health Coalition will be releasing this statement publicly with all the signatories and will ask all Ontario political parties to make commitments to meet our recommendations.

With an aging population, complex care needs, and increased incidence of dementia, the need for safe and appropriate care in Ontario is growing, yet there is no current plan to meet these requirements. Wait lists for long-term care number 34,000 and families are suffering, sometimes for years, without support. While every day tremendous compassion is demonstrated in long-term care homes across our province, there are persistent and pervasive problems, including: systemic inadequacy of care levels; homes working short-staffed; insufficient training and support to provide care for those with behavioural issues, and; shocking levels of fatal violence.

Care relationships in long-term care are central to treating long-term care residents, staff and families with dignity and respect. This means understanding that the conditions of work in long-term care homes are also the conditions of care. It means recognizing that Ontario’s overburdened long-term care system is not meeting the current needs of residents, their families, and staff and needs to be properly resourced and organized to do so. Accessible long-term care solutions are urgently needed, as follows:

1. Improving care means adequate staff and an appropriate staff mix, providing enough time to care for and support residents, providing a stable work environment that encourages staff retention and care relationships, providing the training and education support needed to meet the needs of the increasing complexity of long-term care residents, and providing specialized behavioural supports in long-term care homes.

Daily hands-on care staffing levels should be set at an average of at least 4 hours of care per resident per day to promote health and protect from harm. This staffing standard should apply to direct daily hands-on care hours provided by RN, RPN and PSW/Aides and should not include Administrators, Directors of Care, Nurse Practitioners and others, and it must be measurable and enforceable.

2. Ontario’s long-term care homes have the longest wait-lists in the country, high levels of occupancy, and increasing levels of acuity or complexity among residents. Wait lists now number more than 34,000. Ontario’s current plan to build 30,000 long-term care spaces over the next 10 years, including 5,000 in the next 4 years, is inadequate and leaves tens of thousands of people without the care they need. The evidence shows that non-profit and public long-term care homes provide higher staffing levels, better resident care outcomes, and are preferred by Ontarians.

Ontario’s government must plan to build capacity to meet the need for long-term care beds now, not a decade down the road, and this capacity should be built in public and non-profit homes that are operated for the public good.

We, the undersigned, are joining together to sign onto this call for improved levels of care and access to care in Ontario’s long-term care homes as vital and urgent requirements to address the needs of current residents and those who are waiting for long-term care.

Drafted in conjunction with the OHC by University of Toronto Health Policy Students Jinyu Jing, Charlotte Pape, Maleeha Shams, Chuqiao Yan             

Signatories:

Alliance of Seniors To Protect Canada’s Social Programs 

Canadian Health Coalition

Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) Local 468

Cassellholme Family Council

Chatham-Kent Health Coalition

Citizens for an Accountable Mega-hospital Planning Process (CAMPP)

Community Elder Abuse Prevention Committee, Thunder Bay

Concerned Citizens of North Simcoe for Fair LHIN Funding

Concerned Friends of Ontario Citizens in Care Facilities

Congress of Union Retirees – Thunder Bay Chapter

Council of Canadians, Peel Chapter (Brampton, Caledon, Mississauga)

Council of Canadians,Windsor Essex Chapter

Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario

              CUPE Locals 79, 87, 870, 1975, 6364

Les enseignantes et enseignants retraites de L’Ontario/The Retired Teachers of Ontario District 44

Family Council Network 4 Advocacy, Advocacy Committee

Federated Womens Institute of Ontario

Grand River Valley Health Care Workers Union, CLAC 305

Guelph/ Wellington Coalition for Social Justice

Kingston Faith and Justice Coalition

Kingston Health Coalition

Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville Chapter of the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (HBO CURC)

Health Care and Service Workers Union, CLAC 304

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 636

J. Oulton & Associates

Lambton Seniors Association of Sarnia-Lambton Ontario

London Health Coalition

Niagara Health Coalition

Niagara Region Labour Council

Niagara Health Care and Service Workers Union, CLAC 302

North Bay and District Cardiac Fitness Club

Older Canadians Network

Older Women’s Network Ontario

Ontario Council of Hospital Unions

Ontario Federation of Union Retirees (OFUR)

Ontario Health Coalition 

Ontario Nurses Association

Ontario Nurses Association Local 17

Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Mental Health & Addictions Division

Ottawa Health Coalition

Oxford Coalition for Social Justice

Peterborough Health Coalition

Ralph Thornton Community Centre

Retired Teachers of Ontario/Les enseignantes et les enseignants retires de l’Ontario, District 4

Sanctuary Homes of Elgin/St. Thomas

Sarnia-Lambton Health Coalition

Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma District Seniors’ Health Advisory Committee (SHAC)

Save Our Welland Hospital

Scadding Court Community Centre

South Asian Senior Citizens Organisation, Windsor

South Central Council, CURC

South Niagara Chapter, Council of Canadians

Southwestern Ontario Health Care and Service Workers Union, CLAC 303

Steelworkers Organization of Retirees Chapter 6 – 16 

Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR)

Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) Chapter 80

Sudbury Health Coalition

The Association of Jewish Seniors

The Christian Labour Association of Canada

The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

The Retired Teachers of Ontario/Les enseignantes et enseignants retraites de L’Ontario, District 44

Thunder Bay & District Injured Workers Support Group

Thunder Bay Health Coalition

Toronto and York Region Council of the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC)

Tough Times

Ukrainian Seniors’ Centre of Sudbury Inc.

UNIFOR

United Steelworkers South Central Ontario Area Council, Cambridge

Wallaceburg-WIFN Health Coalition

Waterloo Regional Council of Union Retirees (WRCUR)

Waterloo Regional Labour Council

Windsor & District Labour Council 

Windsor-Essex Health Coalition