(November 4, 2020)<\/p>\n
By: Wellington Advertiser Staff<\/p>\n
TORONTO \u2013 Premier Doug Ford announced on Nov. 2 that long-term care residents will receive an average of four hours a day of care.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not enough and not fast enough for the Ontario Health Coalition.<\/p>\n
Ford said the province will need to hire tens of thousands of personal support workers, registered practical nurses and registered nurses to meet the standard and that it would be achieved by 2024..<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a gold standard in the long-term care sector,\u201d Ford said. \u201cAnd we won\u2019t settle for anything less.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ontario Health Coalition has been seeking this minimum standard of care for about 20 years, but in a press release said the timeline given renders the decision \u201cmeaningless.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToo much of the government\u2019s response to date has been focused on PR at the expense of concrete measures,\u201d said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition.<\/p>\n
Long-term care homes were hard-hit during the first wave and Mehra said Ontario should have been recruiting and training over the summer to prepare for the second wave<\/p>\n
Instead there\u2019s been \u201cno big recruitment drive, no full time work, no improvement in wages and working conditions that would attract people to this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe desperately need staff in the homes now. It is in this government\u2019s power to do more. Why will they not do it?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n