Wednesday, November 8, 2017

CLAC Applauds Announcement of Increased Hours for Senior Care

CLAC applauds yesterday’s announcement that the Ontario government is adding 15 million hours of nursing, personal support, and therapeutic care for long term care residents across Ontario. The goal of this increase is to ensure that residents receive, on average, four hours of direct care per day.

The announcement came as part of the government’s Aging with Confidence action plan. The plan also states that 5,000 new long term care beds will be created by 2022, with a total of 30,000 to be created over the course of the decade.

“CLAC has been advocating for increased care for Ontario’s seniors for many decades,” says Hank Beekhuis, CLAC national representative. “These additional hours are not only vital to the health of our seniors, but also to the thousands of workers who care for them and have been overwhelmed by a lack of resources and staffing to provide adequate care.”

The action plan also promises to improve the technology available within long term care homes, to increase access to culturally-appropriate meals and to care in one’s own language, as well as to improve the safeguards that are in place to protect our most vulnerable seniors who suffer from various forms of dementia, as well as their caregivers.

In its recent Patients First submission to the government, CLAC made the case that paperwork, reporting, and record keeping had become onerous and time consumptive, all of which is taking away from front-line, hands-on care that seniors need.

“We’re hopeful that technological advancements will allow our members to spend more time tending to the needs of the seniors living in long term care homes,” says Beekhuis. “The increased training and support for caregivers in the area of dementia care is also critical for long term care staff, who are very vulnerable to injury—both due to the physical nature of the work and the violence they experience from residents suffering dementia.”

CLAC Applauds Announcement of Increased Hours for Senior Care

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