REPORT DEMANDS MORE LTC INSPECTIONS
Ontario’s Long-Term Care Commission has called for the return of annual inspections, as well as more stringent enforcement of compliance, at facilities across the province in an interim report.
The commission’s findings, released on Friday were the second set of interim recommendations suggesting immediate or rapid action as COVID-19 continued to affect longterm care homes across the province. The recommendations came as the Prescott and Russell Residence in Hawkesbury entered its tenth week in outbreak.
As of Friday, 14 residents had died from COVID-19 at the long-term care home. Eightyfive of the 109 resident cases had been resolved, as had 66 of the 68 staff cases. No new cases were reported last week, but health authorities continued to monitor the situation.
The three-person commission said the province should resume annual resident quality inspections (RQI) for all long-term care homes, as well as hire new inspectors to address that need.
Almost all 626 homes were inspected in 2017, but that figure had dropped to just 37 by 2019 after requirements were relaxed the previous year.
“This reduction in RQIs which are intended to provide a holistic review of operations in the homes left the Ministry with an incomplete picture of the state of Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) and emergency preparedness,” the commission said. “This is a key gap as RQIs are the only residentfocused inspections that must include a review of IPAC.”
The commission also recommended that timely enforcement be prioritized with both infection prevention and plan of care. It found an “apparent lack of enforcement” of ministry-issued orders.
A publicly accessible report on the performance of long-term care homes in the areas of resident and family satisfaction, staffing levels, supply of personal protective equipment was also recommended for every facility. “The current six clinical indicators tracked in the LTC home performance reports, such as the percentage of residents who fell, experienced pain or were physically restrained, are a good first step in advancing transparency and flagging issues in homes,” the report said.
“From a quality of care perspective, homes should monitor and report on other indicators that would provide additional important information to residents, families and the general public and against which homes can be assessed.”
The commission has been asked to present a final report and recommendations by April 30 next year.