![NDP Releases Long-Term Care Plan](https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/1956/files/2020/10/ahorwath.jpg)
The leader of Ontario’s NDP is promising a better quality of life closer to home for seniors in smaller communities in northwestern Ontario.
Andrea Horwath has unveiled her proposed model of small, modern, family-like home care and long-term care.
Horwath says the new concept will see residents living in communities of six to 10, sharing spaces like dining and living rooms.
She notes in small communities, it could look like a regular home in a neighbourhood, and in big urban centres it could look more like a small community of villas.
Horwath has committed to building 50,000 spaces between 2022 and 2030.
She says if elected in 2022, she’s going to end the practice of building big, centralized, institutional-like facilities, stressing the gloom of living in a place that never feels like home is over.
The leader of the official Opposition stresses the Liberals and Conservatives have instead focused on paying for-profit corporations to construct large, warehouse-like facilities where they cut corners in order to pocket more profit.
Horwath says under her plan “We can build small, community-based homes so that you’ll be able to walk to your mom’s new home, rather than drive an hour to visit her facility.”
The NDP has unveiled a comprehensive and detailed long-term plan to overhaul the long-term care system in a model aimed at making it public and not-for-profit.
Horwath notes “The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a disaster hiding behind the walls of Ontario’s long-term care homes. More than 1,870 residents have died, and thousands of families have been devastated. We have to take action now to make sure people are safe in nursing homes and during home-care visits throughout the second wave. And we have to overhaul the system to make sure this nightmare never happens again.”
The plan includes:
1. Overhauling home care to help people live at home longer
Ending the for-profit, understaffed patchwork of home care companies that make seniors wait and fail to address the inequities. This includes bringing the system into the public and non-profit sectors over eight years, as well as new provincial standards for home care services, and culturally-appropriate resources, training and job-matching
2. Making all long-term care public and not-for-profit
Ending greedy profit-making at the expense of quality of care. Horwath is committing to phase out for-profit operators within eight years, and increasing financial reporting, transparency and accountability during the transition period.
3. Building small, modern, family-like homes
The gloom of being warehoused in institution-like facilities is over. An NDP government will immediately start building small nursing homes that actually feel like home. Based on best practices from around the world, the NDP will build smaller living spaces shared by groups of six to 10 people. In a small town, it could look like a typical family home. In bigger cities, it could look more like a neighbourhood of villas.
4. Staffing up with full-time, well-paid, well-trained caregivers
Instead of the revolving door of staff run off their feet, the NDP will give personal support workers a permanent wage boost of $5 an hour over their pre-pandemic wages. The NDP will mandate enough staff to guarantee at least 4.1 hours of hands-on care per resident per day, establish a dedicated fund for training personal support workers, and more.
5. Making family caregivers partners
The NDP will treat loved ones like more than just visitors, including creating a provincial Caregiver Benefit Program and ensuring every home has an active family and resident council.
6. Creating culturally responsive, inclusive and affirming care
The NDP will make sure seniors feel at home, surrounded by their language and culture, and make sure 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors can always live with Pride. This includes partnering with communities, Indigenous nations and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities to fund community homes, and more.
7. Clearing the wait list
Clearing the 38,000-person wait list that can mean years waiting for a bed, and even longer for a culturally appropriate home. The NDP will create up to 50,000 spaces and eliminate the wait list within eight years.
8. Guaranteeing new and stronger protections
Comprehensive inspections, a Seniors’ Advocate, and more will ensure care never goes downhill again.