More resources to meet growing needs
The current waitlist for a bed in long-term care is 1,300 people long and growing. To accommodate our aging population our provincial government must build and staff thousands of additional spots in LTC over the next decade. Any party which is unwilling to admit that meeting the future needs for long-term care will take an unprecedented financial commitment is a party which is either dishonest or unrealistic.
Rather than being a challenge this is an opportunity to transform our residential care system into one where residents are able to not just get the care they need but to live dignified and joyous lives.
Quality care starts with people
Even more so than in other parts of the health care system, long-term care is all about staffing. Having enough properly staff, working reasonable hours and with the pay, benefits and training to do their jobs at a high level is necessary to provide high quality care. The government must create a workforce development plan for long-term care, increase the pay for all staff in the sector and legally mandate all facilities to have a minimum staffing level of 4.1 hours of care per resident.
Public money for care, not for profits.
Whether they’re run by for-profit corporations or not-for-profit community groups, the provincial government pays the exact same amount per resident to each LTC facility. The evidence is overwhelming that for-profit companies offer lower quality care - that’s how they make their profit. During COVID-19 for-profit facilities in Canada had much higher fatality rates, and even during the best of times they turn public money that should go to caring for residents into profits for shareholders. The province must begin phasing out for-profit companies and ensure any new money spent on LTC goes only to not-for-profit and publicly run facilities.
Resources to learn more
National standards in long-term care: Learn about why we need real national standards in long-term care to hold provinces and facilities accountable.
COVID-19 renews the struggle for anti-capitalist long-term care models by Mary-Jean Hande PhD - Learn about why profit-seeking leads to worse care for residents.
Reimagining long-term residential care - a multi-year, collaborative project by leading LTC researchers on the best practices in residential care from across the globe. If you ever wanted to know what works this is a great place to start.
