No timeline for new long-term care beds
Minister says most of new funding to raise wages toward ‘wage comparability’
After a February commitment by Premier Dennis
King to fund 54 new private long-term care beds, Health Minister Mark McLane says the province plans to commit $25 million for these beds and to help raise wages of private long-term care workers.
Speaking in the legislature on April 10, McLane called the commitment a “record investment” in long-term care. The announcement was met with skepticism from the Liberal and Green party benches, whose members noted that an internal government review found that 435 new longterm care beds will be needed by the end of this year.
The 54 beds, once open, will increase the province's total number of long-term care beds to 1,290.
The funding will also support the private longterm care sector as a whole. McLane said the new funding will raise the provincial per-bed subsidy paid to private long-term care homes by $77.55 per day, raising it from $264 to $342 per day.
McLane said 65 per cent of this funding will be earmarked to increasing the wages of long-term care staff “with a commitment to move forwards towards wage comparability with public sector homes.”
Of the $24.9-million funding commitment, $18.2 million will be allocating to increasing the daily per-bed rate while $6.7 million will be allocated to the new 54 long-term care beds. All of the $25 million is projected to be spent in the current fiscal year.
A 2022 review of the province's long-term care sector noted a disparity in pay between public and private sector long-term care homes, as well as differences in levels of care standards public and private homes.
McLane did not offer a clear timeline of when the new 54 beds will open. During his Feb. 27 state-of-theprovince speech, King said the new beds would open 30 days after they become licensed.
However, more than a month later, McLane told the legislature that the process for licensing the new beds is only starting now.
McLane also said the province would be issuing tenders for “hundreds” of new longterm beds in the coming year, over and above the 54 beds.
"Investing in long-term care is investing in our teams. And that is always an investment I am proud to make," McLane said.
In response, Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly said he was underwhelmed by the announcement.
He noted that McLane's announcement did not include new dollars to open public long-term care beds.
"Three different separate announcements for private long-term care and nothing talked about for public? You can't have an imbalance like this,” McNeilly said.
McNeilly also noted that the projected need is for 435 new long-term care beds by the end of 2024.
“That's not good enough.
The balance is off here," McNeilly said.
Green MLA Matt MacFarlane noted that McLane's announcement lacked a clear timeline for when the new beds will open.
“We still don't really know where that finish line is going to be – 30 days from whenever the licensing is done. So that's a moving target with no finish line,” MacFarlane said.
MacFarlane also said the commitment to move towards “wage comparability” with the public sector was not enough.
“We're long past time moving towards wage parity. We need actual wage parity,” MacFarlane said.
The 54 beds, once open, will increase the province’s total number of long-term care beds to 1,290.