(November 2, 2020)<\/p>\n
By:\u00a0TbNewsWatch.com Staff<\/span><\/p>\n MISSISSAUGA, Ont.\u00a0\u2014 The Ontario government has announced a plan to increase the amount of direct care that nursing home residents receive daily.<\/p>\n The current average is 2.75 hours per day.<\/p>\n At a news conference at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga on Monday, Premier Ford and two cabinet ministers said they are setting a target of four hours per day per resident, to be reached within five years.<\/p>\n Ford said the government is acting on recommendations of Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission.<\/p>\n Direct hands-on care is provided by nurses or personal support workers to meet the individual clinical and personal care needs of residents.<\/p>\n “Progress will be measured and reported regularly,” a government press release stated.<\/p>\n More than 2,000 nursing home residents have died since the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n The COVID-19 Commission has said the province must spend more, on a permanent basis, so homes can hire more staff.<\/p>\n According to Monday’s announcement, the province is taking the first step by recruiting an additional 3,700 frontline workers for the health workforce.<\/p>\n It said it plans “unprecedented changes to educate and recruit the tens of thousands of new PSWs, registered practical nurses and registered nurses who will be required” over the longer term.<\/p>\n The Ontario Health Coalition \u2013 a frequent critic of government health care policy \u2013 welcomed the adoption of a four-hour minimum care standard, but said it will take too long to implement.<\/p>\n “There is much more that the Ford government could do right now to save lives and get care levels up… announcing a care standard four years from now is just not good enough,” said OHC Executive Director Natalie Mehra.<\/p>\n She said provinces such as Quebec and B.C. took action earlier this year to stabilize their PSW workforces by increasing wages and recruitment.<\/p>\n “In contrast, Ontario’s government did nothing substantial in the summer months when there was a lull in COVID-19 cases and should have been planning for the fall,” Mehra said.<\/p>\n She added that additional staff are desperately needed in the province’s nursing homes immediately.<\/p>\n