Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee

Seventy‐nine thousand (79,000) of the province's frailest seniors call Ontario's 626 long‐term care (LTC) facilities home and trust them to meet their physical, social, spiritual and cognitive needs on a daily basis. The resident population is older, with 93 per cent over 64 years of age, 82 per cent being over 74 and 55 per cent over 84. And while there are definitely challenges in providing holistic care to seniors due to the increasing numbers in the “frail elderly” category and their rising acuity, we know care for older persons in our society can be provided in a manner that is safe, humane and client and family‐centred.

This submission is in response to the Long‐Term Care Staffing Study Advisory Group struck to address Recommendation 85 of the Gillese Inquiry into the criminal acts of a staff member that resulted in the untimely deaths of a number of residents and issued its recommendations on July 31, 2019. Justice Eileen Gillese gave the government a deadline of July 31, 2020 to develop a staffing plan for long‐term care, and table it in the legislature.   

In this submission, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) asks to establish a “Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee” for residents living in nursing homes. RNAO calls for a new era in LTC by guaranteeing the basic care needed, shoring up staffing levels for regulated and personal support staff, and adjusting the staff mix, so residents in nursing homes can count on consistent, safe and quality care.

Read the full report.
 

Media Release: RNAO calls for a “Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee” and provides staffing formula to Minister Fullerton for her July 31, 2020 report to legislature 

"This submission is to honour the 1,963 residents in LTC who lost their lives over the past four months, in part, because of years of government neglect."

Doris Grinspun

RNAO CEO

"Premier, too many lives have been lost and too many families are waiting for change that is long overdue. A nursing home basic care guarantee will help lead us where we need to go."

Angela Cooper Brathwaite

Then RNAO president

Our record of advocacy and action for residents in long-term care

• RNAO responds to Long-Term Care Staffing Study Report

Reports:

• NP Task Force's Vision for Tomorrow (Feb. 25, 2021)
  • Media release: Vision for Tomorrow: RNAO’s Nurse Practitioner Task Force report makes recommendations to enhance and expand the role of NPs to improve timely access to quality care
• Reuniting family with their loved ones in long-term care homes during COVID-19 (July 15, 2020)
  • Media release: RNAO calls on government to immediately reunite families with their loved ones in all long-term care homes in Ontario
• Long-Term Care Systemic Failings: Two Decades of Staffing and Funding Recommendations (June 5, 2020)
  • Media release: RNAO releases list of 35 reports and recommendations dating back 20 years documenting the government’s failings of Ontario long-term care sector
• Enhancing Community Care for Ontarians (ECCO) 3.0 (May 12, 2020)
  • Media release: Pandemic puts health system to the test: Nurses have answers for shortfalls

Media releases:

• Nurses celebrate National Nurse Practitioner Week and call for scope expansion to improve access to the health system (Nov. 10, 2021) 
• Ontario’s economic statement signals government’s concerns with nursing human resources (Nov. 4, 2021)  
• RNAO deeply disappointed with Premier Ford’s decision on mandatory vaccination (Nov. 3, 2021)
• RNAO is deeply disappointed with government’s reopening plan (Oct. 21, 2021)
• RNAO response to Premier Ford mandatory vaccination letter to hospital CEOs and health organizations (Oct. 19, 2021) 
• Mandate vaccinations for all health-care and education workers and immediately establish safe zones to protect patients, students and workers (Oct. 7, 2021)
• RNAO commends move to mandate vaccination for long-term care staff and urges the same for all other health and education sectors (Oct. 1, 2021) 
• RNAO calls for the government to shift its focus back to protecting Ontarians through vaccination (Sept. 24, 2021)
• Nurses urge Canadians to vote for a government that will guide the country through the pandemic and oversee a healthy recovery (Sept. 15, 2021) 
• Nurses call on voters to vote for a healthy recovery for all (Aug. 20, 2021) 
• RNAO welcomes continued public health restrictions and mandated vaccination for some health-care workers: More to be done to protect children and economy, nurses say (Aug. 16, 2021)
• Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission report receives thumbs up from RNAO; Will government act? (May 1, 2021) 
• RNAO applauds Ottawa's pandemic role and child care proposal, wants faster action on national standards for long-term care and new funding for pharmacare (April 21, 2021) 
• Provincial budget fails to deliver urgent nursing investments to care for Ontarians and to sustain the profession through the pandemic and beyond (March 24, 2021) 
• Results of nursing survey point to an alarming exodus from the profession following the pandemic, says RNAO (March 31, 2021)
• RNAO statement on the government’s re-opening announcement (Feb. 8, 2021)
• Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines Through Community Providers NOW (Jan. 14, 2021) 
• RNAO calls on Premier Ford to implement four measures to smother COVID-19 (Jan. 12, 2021)
• Long-Term Care staffing plan welcomed, but lack of urgency and legislated action will continue to devastate residents, their loved ones, and staff for years to come (Dec. 18, 2020)
• Nurses urge dedicated funding for infection prevention and control to combat wave of COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes (Dec. 4, 2020)
• RNAO statement in response to the government’s announcement on increasing direct care for long-term care resident to four hours per day (Nov. 3, 2020)
• RNAO endorses Bill 13: Time to Care Act and urges government to pass into law promptly (Oct. 30, 2020)
• Nurses say throne speech advances A Just Recovery for All (Sept. 23, 2020)
• RNAO joins global movement A Just Recovery for All (Sept. 9, 2020)
• LTC staffing study highlights what RNAO has been saying for two decades: Government must immediately mandate hiring to avert second tragedy (July 30, 2020)
• Thousands join call for the Nursing Home Basic Care Guarantee (July 27, 2020)
• RNAO Calls for Immediate Action in Response to the Canadian Armed Forces’ LTC report with Minister Fullerton’s July 31 Report to Legislature (May 28, 2020)
• RNAO applauds government's announcement of expert commission to address long-standing systemic shortfalls in long-term care post-COVID (May 20, 2020)