NDP calls for public inquiry into long-term care in Ontario

The NDP’s health care critic, France Gélinas, responded to a CBC Marketplace long-term care home investigation by calling on the Ford government to expand the Wettlafer inquiry to a broader public inquiry into the province’s long-term care system. Gélinas issued the following statement:

“Families across Ontario are worried about their loved ones in long-term care homes. Too many seniors in our province have suffered violence or neglect because the staff they need to protect and care for them are stretched thin, run off their feet, and often not able to deliver the kind of care they know residents deserve.

The CBC Marketplace investigation confirms that seniors in long-term care homes are not getting the one-on-one attention they need because there are not enough front line staff like PSWs and nurses.

The previous Liberal government rejected the NDP’s call for a public inquiry into Ontario’s long-term care homes and starved the sector of funds, staff and care. But Doug Ford believes more cutting and more privatizing is the answer — and we’re worried that will make things even worse for people.

Andrea Horwath and the NDP are calling on the Ford government for an expanded find-and-fix public inquiry into long-term care. That inquiry should track down the sources of neglect and safety risks, and address the root causes of those problems, without delay. It should investigate systemic problems in long-term care such as funding levels, regional capacity and wait times.

New Democrats have also been calling for a minimum staffing standard so that each resident can be offered a minimum of four hours of hands-on care per day.”