Immediate Action Needed into Public Inquiry of Nursing Home Deaths

CLAC applauds the appointment of a public inquiry into nursing home deaths, but immediate action is needed! 

CLAC strongly supports the announcement by the Ministry of Health of an official public inquiry into the tragic situation that allowed Elizabeth Wettlaufer—a recently convicted serial killer—to continue working in Ontario’s nursing homes even after she was fired. The ministry has appointed Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Eileen Gillese to look into this tragic situation and make recommendations to ensure something like this can never occur again. 

The issues of violence, abuse, lack of funding, and staffing shortages in nursing homes have long been evident, and this incident—tragic as it is—is only a symptom of the larger issues facing long term care. CLAC and many other unions and advocacy groups have been talking to the ministry about this for many years, and the shortcomings of the long term care system are all well-documented. 

The crisis in the long term care system is not due to lack of knowledge of the issues; it is a lack of will to do anything substantive about it. The anemic response from the government has usually been additional regulation and continued inadequate funding for care. For those of us familiar with long term care, the needs are only too obvious. More resources are needed immediately. 

CLAC is concerned that a two-year inquiry will be used as an excuse to delay action beyond the final report, which will only serve to delay any positive change—and will for many be too little too late. Currently, Ontario funds nursing homes at levels that are 18 percent less than the national average, and obvious interim measures are urgently needed. 

The need for additional hours of care has been repeatedly documented, but little action has been taken to date. We need the government to make interim funding adjustments to front-line staffing where it is now desperately needed.