Ontario's Seniors: Funding the Care They Deserve

Think about it. How many people do you know who are caring for an aging parent, relative or friend? Maybe you fall into that category. Odds are that at least one of these seniors will eventually need the kind of help and support that long term care facilities provide.

Right now they aren’t. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers which examined 10 jurisdictions, Ontario ranked last and provided the least funding for nursing and personal care, even behind Mississippi.

And it gets worse. This same study found that Ontario’s long term care residents have the highest proportion of mental health disturbances and problems, yet less than 6 per cent receive any professional intervention. Further, only 10 per cent of residents with rehabilitation potential actually receive the physical therapy they need.

Our dismal scorecard worsens when you add that Ontario’s seniors are generally older, frailer and sicker than each of the other jurisdictions studied.

What this means is that our parents, relatives and friends who live in long term care facilities, have access to less than 15 minutes of care a day from a registered nurse, are provided with about two hours of total nursing and personal care a day and are fed on a budget of $4.49 per day!

What do we really mean by “long term care?” It is often too easy to simply gloss over a broad, generic term such as this and forget that it is really about people; about very frail and vulnerable seniors who now rely on others to help them through the day.

A funding increase will make a very real difference in the lives of these people. More dollars will mean trained staff who understand the struggles of someone living with dementia. More dollars will mean more money for meals, which are the highlight of the day. More dollars will mean that residents who can benefit from therapy can get it. More dollars will mean residents get more than 15 minutes of care a day from a registered nurse. More dollars will mean staff that have the time to give people more than the briefest attention. More dollars will mean a better ratio of residents to staff (right now the average nightshift ratio is one registered nurse to 100 residents). More dollars will mean more than one routine bath per week.

What is needed is a $25 per day increase in the government’s share of the per diem for each long term care resident. Our recommendation is that this be multi-year funding with an immediate infusion of 50% up front (or a per diem increase of $12.50), and 25% in years two and three.

Currently, the average per diem rate per resident is $103.53. Of that total, the government portion is on average $63.53 and the resident contributes $40.00.

The increase would make a very real difference in the lives of frail seniors. Without it, Ontario will continue to have one of the lowest levels of care.

We know the health care system is overburdened, that health care costs are growing faster than revenues or overall economic growth.

Dollars spent on adequately funding the long term care system, however, will take pressure off other healthcare sectors. Many hospital beds are being occupied by seniors (at a minimum of $400 per day) who could be well cared for in a long term care facility for less than one quarter the cost to the health system.

Long term care is becoming a mainstream issue for Ontario voters and it is a critical issue for the people who are now in facilities and whose needs are not being met. We have an obligation, as a society, to the people who have helped make Ontario what it is today.

Residents of long term care facilities, both now and in the future, deserve a level of care and service that will meet their increasing and complex care requirements. Without an appropriate increase in operating funding, the vision of Ontario’s health reform will never be realized.

OANHSS is the provincial association representing not-for-profit providers of long term care, services and housing for seniors. Member organizations operate over 25,000 long term care beds across the province. Copies of our submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs are available.

Please contact Donna Rubin, Chief Executive Officer at 905-851-8821 extension 230 or drubin@oanhss.org.

C	ontact OANHSS

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.

Ontario's Seniors: Funding the Care They Deserve

It’s About Care