Nursing home care fix pegged at $770M

Union urging provincial government to double staffing hours

Basic needs will be neglected in Ontario nursing homes until the province requires operators to double staffing hours at a cost of $770 million, a public service union says.

With more and more residents needing intense care, each is only getting two hours of hands-on care daily, said Kelly O’Sullivan, who chairs CUPE’s Ontario wing.

The ministry that's supposed to protect residents doesn't even require a minimum amount of time spent per resident and exaggerates the time spent caring for them, the Canadian Union of Public Employees contends.

“(Our workers) don’t have enough time to take care of basic needs,” said O'Sullivan.

Residents who can use a toilet with help instead sit in wet diapers, CUPE says. Those who need special diets may be overlooked. Those who want to keep up their appearance are rushed into clothes each morning by a support worker who may need to get 9 residents to breakfast in an hour.

“I can’t imagine getting ready in that time and I’m an ablebodied person,” O’Sullivan said.

Her accusations come on the heels of decision by Health Minister Deb Matthews to more than double the number of nursing home inspectors from 80 to 180. That followed a QMI Agency investigation showing most homes had been without a single annual inspection.

But while those added inspections will cost $12 million, that's pocket change compared to CUPE's demands.

But O’Sullivan says that's money that would be well spent, and not just because it preserves residents' dignity and family expectations. Residents are so neglected they end up too often rushed to hospitals for conditions that could have been avoided with better care in nursing homes, O'Sullivan said.