Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson has announced that long-term care homes in the riding will be receiving up to nearly $7.5 million in new funding to increase staffing levels, leading to more direct care for residents.Her announcement is part of the Ontario government’s plan to fix long-term care, by providing up to $673 million to long-term care homes across the province to ensure long-term care residents receive—on average—four hours of direct care per day by 2024-25.
“We take it very seriously to help increase staffing levels at long term care facilities across Ontario,” Thompson said. “More direct care is vital to the well being of our senior population in these homes and I am positive that today’s announcement will improve the quality of life and health care for the residents.”
These funds announced include:
. Brucelea Haven, in Walkerton, up to $1,255,884.
· Huronview, in Clinton, up to $1,046,556
· Huronlea Home for the Aged, in Brussels, up to $558,168
· Bluewater Rest Home, in Zurich, up to $566,892
· Pinecrest Manor Nursing Home, in Lucknow, up to $462,240
· Southampton Care Centre up to $715,152
· Fordwich Village Nursing Home, in Fordwich, up to $226,764
· Maitland Manor, in Goderich, up to $636,660
· Queensway Long Term Care Home, in Hensall, up to $444,792
· Seaforth Long Term Care Home, in Seaforth, up to $409,896
· Exeter Villa Nursing Home, in Exeter, up to $383,748
· Trillium Court, in Kincardine, up to $296,520
· Braemar Retirement Centre, in Wingham, up to $453,504
“This is part of our government’s plan to hire thousands of new staff over the next four years to ensure those living in long-term care get the high-quality care they need and deserve,” Thompson added.
“We know that more qualified staff means more daily care for residents,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Hiring more staff is part of our government’s plan to fix long-term care and to improve the quality of care residents receive and the quality of life they experience.”
Seniors entering long-term care today are older and have more complex medical needs than they did just a decade ago. The level of care residents need has increased dramatically, but the amount of care they receive each day has not. In the nine years, between 2009 and 2018, the amount of care each resident received, by all providers, per day increased by only 22 minutes. Our government, over the span of four years, will increase direct hours of care by 1 hour and 21 minutes.
The government is investing $4.9 billion over four years to boost direct resident care to an average of four hours daily by increasing care staff by more than 27,000 people. Hiring thousands of new staff at long-term homes and increasing the amount of care they deliver each year will be made possible by annual funding increases to homes:
· $270 million in 2021-22
· $673 million in 2022-23
· $1.25 billion in 2023-24
· $1.82 billion in 2024-25
Ontario now has over 24,000 new and 19,000 upgraded beds in the development pipeline — which means more than 80 percent of the 30,000 net new beds being delivered are in the planning, construction and opening stages of the development process.
In 2021-22, the province invested $200 million to train up to 16,200 additional personal support workers through publicly-assisted colleges, private career colleges and district school boards and $35M to add up to 2,000 additional nursing students at publicly-assisted colleges and universities across the province, for the Fall 2021 and Winter 2022 incoming cohorts.
