Province promises more care for nursing home residents amid staffing crisis,

But getting to four hours of daily attention will take to 2025, Ford says

It has taken 10 years of pressure and more than 2,000 COVID-19 deaths, but Ontario is promising to give nursing home residents an average four hours of daily hands-on care.

Premier Doug Ford made the pledge Monday, warning it will take four years to reach that level because “thousands and thousands” of nurses, personal support workers and others will need to be hired and trained.

“Four hours a day will make a world of difference,” Ford told a news conference, noting the current average is 2.75 hours per day and boasting Ontario is the first province to make the commitment. “This is the gold standard.”

Critics urged a faster pace, given the staffing crisis in longterm-care homes that led to horrific conditions in some, as outlined in a report from the Canadian Armed Forces last spring after military medical teams were deployed to the facilities hardest-hit by the pandemic.

Staff levels in some homes fell as low as 20 per cent because so many workers were sick or absent for fear of catching COVID-19, which to date has infected almost 2,900 employees and more than 6,900 residents.

“The timeline … is so long that it is meaningless for the people who are suffering and dying in long-term care now,” said Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coalition.

The latest government figures released Monday showed 502 nursing home residents and 318 staff have active cases of COVID-19, increases of 22 and 13 respectively from the previous day.

Almost 100 long-term-care residents have died since midAugust, increasing the death toll to 2,016 of the 3,152 Ontarians who have perished from the virus.

Ford’s promise comes just over a week after his government’s commission into the devastating impact of COVID-19 in nursing homes echoed the four-hour recommendation made previously by seniors’ advocates, health groups, the New Democrats and the Green party.

While it’s been estimated the measure would cost $1.6 billion a year, more details will come in the provincial budget to be presented Thursday by Finance Minister Rod Phillips and in a staffing strategy coming in December from Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton.