Office of the Auditor General
Once again, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a spotlight on Ontario’s long-term care homes. Two reports criticize the lack of action by the government, as well as existing problems in the homes, which left hundreds of residents and staff easy targets for the pandemic and they paid the ultimate price.
A scathing report from the government watchdog outlined neglect and said the nursing homes were badly prepared for COVID-19. A second report from a provincial COVID-19 commission, that was given to the government on Friday night, said there also was no plan to protect long-term care residents from the pandemic.
Long-term care homes in Ontario are losing staff to other industries, association says Liam Casey Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
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Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
Long-term care in Ontario is losing staff to other industries that due to the pandemic are hiring health-care workers for infection prevention and testing supports, a group representing more than 70 per cent of the province’s homes said Tuesday.
Donna Duncan, the CEO of the Ontario Long-Term Care Association, said the staffing crisis in the province’s seniors homes is worsening.
Ontario’s long-term care minister should have spoken out earlier about COVID-19 concerns, Horwath says Shawn Jeffords and Nicole Thompson The Canadian Press Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
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Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Ontario’s Opposition says the province’s long-term care minister should have spoken out earlier on the risk COVID-19 posed to the province’s nursing homes.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says Minister Merrilee Fullerton should have made her concerns public when the government said the opposite at the start of the pandemic.