Latest news with #MinistryofLongTermCare
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Sudbury long-term care home still can't admit new residents, six months after provincial order issued
Social Sharing A long-term care home in Sudbury has not been able to admit new residents for six months now, following a provincial order. The Ontario Ministry of Long Term Care issued what it calls a Cease Admissions Order on December 16, 2024. This means no new residents can move into the nursing home while the order remains in place. The order came after residents and families made numerous complaints about care at the home, which opened in May 2024 on Algonquin Road in the city's south end. Provincial inspectors issued six compliance orders after finding standards were not being met under Ontario's Fixing Long-Term Care Act. The those orders have since been lifted, but follow-up inspections at Extendicare Countryside since December have found some of the same issues are ongoing. The latest inspection report published by the ministry on June 4 comes from an on-site inspection between May 5 and May 9. These types of inspections are regular check-ins to identify any non-compliance with provincial standards and do not cover complaints or critical issues, which are investigated separately. Following the inspection, five written notifications were given to Extendicare Countryside for non-compliance. These include issues with skin and wound care, including failing to ensure that the care a resident received was documented. The home was also notified about staff not responding to the needs of a resident and not properly cleaning the dining area. In a statement to CBC News, Extendicare Countryside said the written notifications "are not unexpected or unusual for any Ontario long-term care home. This is helpful feedback that allows us to focus on areas that require additional effort or improvement." Extendicare added it continues to address gaps and improve care and is encouraged by the home's continued progress. Despite that, families and residents have continued to voice their concerns in recent months, with Sudbury-area New Democrat MPPs Jamie West and France Gélinas calling for a full inspection of the nursing home.
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Ontario bill limiting access to long-term care home inspection reports will protect bad actors: advocate
Social Sharing The Ontario government is proposing restricting public access to long-term care (LTC) home inspection reports — a move one advocate says will protect bad actors in the sector. Currently, all LTC home inspection reports are posted online. But under the proposal, contained within a bill tabled last week by Minister of Red Tape Reduction Andrea Khanjin, the reports would be published for three years before being removed from the website. "It's very clear here that it's to shield the bad reputations of repeated bad actors in long-term care from having their records of non-compliance being made visible," said Dr. Vivian Stamatopoulos, a professor at Ontario Tech University and long-term care advocate, in an interview with CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Tuesday. Over 30,000 reports are currently available online, dating back over 15 years, including for homes that are no longer operational, according to the Ministry of Long-Term Care. The ministry will continue maintaining reports outside the three-year time period, and reports will be available "upon request," spokesperson Mark Nesbitt said in an email on Monday. "By setting a three-year publication period for reports, the government is ensuring the public has access to relevant and accurate information that reflects each long-term care home's current performance," he said. The time frame is similar to other inspection industry practices, such as for child-care settings, he said. But Stamatopoulos called the comparison a false equivalency. Children don't live in daycares, and the history of deaths, noncompliance and abuse in Ontario LTC homes demands a full public record, she said. From March 2020 to April 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 4,335 residents died in Ontario's LTC homes, according to a September 2023 report from the province's ombudsman. WATCH | 5 years ago, military report detailed abuse, neglect in Ontario's long-term care homes: Military report puts spotlight on crisis in Ontario's long-term care homes 5 years ago Duration 3:09 The Canadian Armed Forces released a report in May 2020 detailing disturbing conditions observed by its members in five Ontario LTC homes, including accounts of elder abuse and an accusation that improper care led to the choking death of a resident. The soldiers were called in to help after some of the province's long-term care facilities were overrun by COVID-19 outbreaks. If the government does implement the three-year time frame for online access to inspection reports, Stamatopoulos says by 2026, "the worst of the worst times in long-term care is just going to be gone." "And then eventually, it will all be gone." Move will add more red tape, advocate says Families, journalists and researchers all rely on the publicly available reports to demonstrate long-standing issues in the sector and support their calls for systemic change, she said. If the reports are removed, she said it will no longer be possible to do historical analysis and examine trends overtime. Stamatopoulos said she doubts the government will provide reports upon request in a timely manner. Currently, she said she is waiting for the Ministry of Long-Term Care to get back to her on questions she sent them about inspection reports four months ago. Requiring additional resources to field individual requests for reports will be inefficient and add more red tape when the data is already publicly available, she said. "Why would you go out of your way to take these reports down and then have to field these requests on a one-to-one basis if you don't have anything to hide, or if you're not trying to protect bad actors who have long histories of non-compliance?" she said.
