Ontario nursing homes break the law repeatedly with no consequences
CBC News, Marketplace
https://www.cbc.ca/news/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/
After weeks of relative calm, a new, large COVID-19 outbreak at an Ottawa long-term care home is raising fears that not enough has been done to prevent a second deadly wave in long-term care across Ontario. As of this week, at least 27 residents of Extendicare West End Villa and three staff members had tested positive for COVID-19, making it the largest current outbreak in the province and the only one with more than five active cases. Extendicare says it does not know for certain how the outbreak started, but it is a reminder how quickly COVID-19 can spread, especially among vulnerable long-term care residents, once it gets inside a home. Because it is the first significant outbreak in an Ontario long-term care home since the first wave of COVID-19 killed more than 1,800 long-term care residents and infected thousands more, it is the focus of attention from the province and Ottawa Public Health, which has been in daily contact with the home.
Ottawa should establish national rules and provide significant funding for long-term care to ensure high standards and avoid a repeat of the COVID-19 crisis in nursing homes, a group of 10 sector experts recommends. In a report prepared for the Royal Society of Canada, the experts call on Ottawa to work with the provinces and territories on a national plan to overhaul the long-term care system to address widespread deficiencies, beginning with staffing. Nursing and retirement homes have been hit hardest by COVID-19 in Canada, with more than 1,000 outbreaks and just more than 80 per cent of the country’s deaths – a long-term care mortality rate far higher than that of other wealthy countries. “Canada’s reality is that, without federal financial support, provincial and territorial governments are unlikely to have resources for the high standards that our frail elderly deserve in nursing homes and LTC more broadly,” says the document, obtained by The Globe and Mail before its release on Friday.
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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-report-calls-on-ottawa-to-overhaul-long-term-care-system/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-report-calls-on-ottawa-to-overhaul-long-term-care-system/