Inadequate Provincial Funding Resulting in Staff & Service Cuts at LTC Facilities

Inadequate Provincial Funding Resulting in Staff & Service Cuts at Long Term Care Facilities

OTTAWA (February 19, 2002) -- Many long term care facilities throughout the province, including a number in the Ottawa region, are having to reduce staffing and service levels as a result of government funding which has not kept pace with the needs of residents.

Donna Rubin, CEO of the Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors (OANHSS), was meeting today in Ottawa with local facility administrators to discuss the serious problems the sector is now facing as a result of this critical funding shortfall.

Ontario has one of the lowest per diem rates in the country. According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers which examined 10 jurisdictions, Ontario provides its LTC residents with the least amount of care by registered nurses and the least amount of total nursing and personal care -- behind Mississippi, South Dakota, Michigan, Maine, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands.

Last Fall, Queen's Park raised the per diem (the amount it pays for each LTC resident per day) from $60 to $62.60. OANHSS and its members said a rate of at least $85 was needed to bring Ontario to comparable levels of service to that of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

"We've been telling the province for months now that we have a crisis on our hands,” Rubin stated.

Currently in Ontario, each long term care resident is:

· given less than 15 minutes of care a day from a registered nurse

· provided with only about two hours of total nursing and personal care a day

· fed on a budget of only $4.49 a day

"Long term care facilities are home for many frail elderly who have been active, vital contributors to society all their lives. Don't they deserve a level of care that is more than the mere minimum?" asks Rubin.

OANHSS is the provincial association representing not-for-profit providers of long term care, services and housing for seniors. Its member facilities operate over 25,000 long term care beds across the province.

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Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes & Services for Seniors
7050 Weston Road, Suite 700, Woodbridge, Ontario L4L 8G7
(P) 905-851-8821
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OANHSS members include not-for-profit providers of long term care, services and housing for seniors in Ontario.
Members include municipal and charitable long term care homes, non-profit nursing homes,
seniors' housing projects and community service agencies.