Inadequate Funding Causes Inadequate Care
As shocking as some of the recent revelations of poor care in Ontario nursing homes may be, they shouldn't come as a surprise. The Toronto Star and other news agencies have been reporting on these issues for years in an effort to raise awareness.
MPP Deb Matthews has turned recent news coverage of substandard care into a call for zero tolerance of abuse. But she and home operators with her are side-stepping the largest problem€"inadequate funding causes inadequate care. Demanding more inspections, more reporting, and more paperwork won't stop most of the abuse and neglect.
This is not to say that a higher level of abuse prevention and reporting isn't needed. It is, but it will not solve the main problem.
The vast amount of neglect and abuse in Ontario's nursing homes isn't due to poor reporting or uncaring staff but a lack of funding for residents' care.
In the recent case of the worker raping a resident, reported by the Star, why didn't staff go check to see what their co-worker was doing when he was mysteriously absent? Because they didn't have time. They don't even have time to talk with residents.
In some cases, caregivers have as little as six minutes to get a resident out of bed in the morning€"washed, toileted, and dressed for breakfast. There isn't enough funding for adequate staffing in long term care homes.
There also isn't enough funding for supplies such as diapers. The government currently pays $1.20 per day per resident for incontinence supplies. While this clearly isn't enough, private operators like to quote this number to throw blame for rationed diapers on the government, rather than accept any responsibility themselves.
The reality is that the government also allocates money for general expenses involved in running a home. Long term care home operators can use this money as they see fit. If they don't spend it, they keep it as profit. By rationing diapers instead of using their general expense account, they are protecting their profits.
Abuse and neglect won't be solved simply with more healthcare dollars from the government. Long term care home operators need to act like civic partners and exercise leadership and innovation in providing government services. If this is unrealistic, then we shouldn't have privatized long term care.
We can do more to eliminate abuse in long term care homes. Child care agencies often rotate staff through gender-balanced pairs. Randomizing who works with whom is one method of increasing accountability that is rarely utilized in nursing homes.
But these measures alone will not prevent most of the problems we find in long term care homes. Bed sores, untreated wounds, single person transfers resulting in injuries to staff and residents€"these are all caused by inadequate staffing. Without more dollars for increased care hours and supplies, they will never go away. For that, the buck stops with the Ontario government and, ultimately, with the Ontario voter. Please let your Member of Provincial Parliament know that you care.
MPP Deb Matthews has turned recent news coverage of substandard care into a call for zero tolerance of abuse. But she and home operators with her are side-stepping the largest problem€"inadequate funding causes inadequate care. Demanding more inspections, more reporting, and more paperwork won't stop most of the abuse and neglect.
This is not to say that a higher level of abuse prevention and reporting isn't needed. It is, but it will not solve the main problem.
The vast amount of neglect and abuse in Ontario's nursing homes isn't due to poor reporting or uncaring staff but a lack of funding for residents' care.
In the recent case of the worker raping a resident, reported by the Star, why didn't staff go check to see what their co-worker was doing when he was mysteriously absent? Because they didn't have time. They don't even have time to talk with residents.
In some cases, caregivers have as little as six minutes to get a resident out of bed in the morning€"washed, toileted, and dressed for breakfast. There isn't enough funding for adequate staffing in long term care homes.
There also isn't enough funding for supplies such as diapers. The government currently pays $1.20 per day per resident for incontinence supplies. While this clearly isn't enough, private operators like to quote this number to throw blame for rationed diapers on the government, rather than accept any responsibility themselves.
The reality is that the government also allocates money for general expenses involved in running a home. Long term care home operators can use this money as they see fit. If they don't spend it, they keep it as profit. By rationing diapers instead of using their general expense account, they are protecting their profits.
Abuse and neglect won't be solved simply with more healthcare dollars from the government. Long term care home operators need to act like civic partners and exercise leadership and innovation in providing government services. If this is unrealistic, then we shouldn't have privatized long term care.
We can do more to eliminate abuse in long term care homes. Child care agencies often rotate staff through gender-balanced pairs. Randomizing who works with whom is one method of increasing accountability that is rarely utilized in nursing homes.
But these measures alone will not prevent most of the problems we find in long term care homes. Bed sores, untreated wounds, single person transfers resulting in injuries to staff and residents€"these are all caused by inadequate staffing. Without more dollars for increased care hours and supplies, they will never go away. For that, the buck stops with the Ontario government and, ultimately, with the Ontario voter. Please let your Member of Provincial Parliament know that you care.