Ontario watchdog will probe long-term care system

Provinces have a responsibility to set minimum standards and ensure quality care, NUPGE says

Ottawa (18 July 2008) – Ontario’s Ombudsman announced yesterday that he will launch an investigation into the province's long-term care system, including the standards long-term care homes are required to meet and how the provincial government monitors and enforces those standards.

“I don’t think anyone disputes the fact that there are a lot of questions about how these long-term care homes operate and how they are monitored,” said Ombudsman Andre Marin. “The government itself has said we must do better.”

Despite repeated promises by the McGuinty Liberal government to improve care and bring in minimum care standards, the provincial government continues to face mounting criticism that the system is improperly regulated, inadequately inspected and suffers from dire staffing shortages.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has been one of the most prominent groups calling on all levels of government to boost funding and staffing for the long-term care system. The union has produced a significant report on the issue entitled, Dignity Denied: Long-Term Care and Canada's Elderly.

"Ottawa has a responsibility to provide adequate and targeted funding for the long-term care that our seniors need and deserve," the NUPGE report says. "It is the responsibility of provincial governments and territories to bear their share of the costs, to establish minimum standards that ensure quality care, and to provide adequate oversight and inspection. But our governments are failing in their responsibilities and that has had a devastating impact, both on residents and the workers attempting to provide quality and compassionate care."

Marin said his office continues to receive hundreds of complaints from residents and their families about long-term care homes and he believes the public is quickly losing confidence in the system.

"I think that by the very nature of the business, those who are in long-term care facilities don't always have the means to express themselves ... so we've probably only touched the tip of the iceberg."