Horwath in Sarnia, lays out NDP vision for long-term care

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath was in Sarnia Wednesday laying out her vision to fix Ontario’s broken long-term care system.

Horwath met with Sarnia resident Leanne Hext, who says that her mom, who is currently in long-term care in the city, will benefit from the NDP plan to ensure that every resident in a long-term care home get at least four hours of hands-on, individual care per day.

“The time is now for change for the better in our province,” said Horwath. “For far too long we have been switching between Liberals and Conservatives – and where has it gotten us? What has it gotten our parents and grandparents? We have a long-term care system in this province with long waiting lists, and too often a bed in a home that doesn’t protect residents’ dignity, their health or even their safety.”

Horwath unveiled her party’s platform Monday. The platform includes her vision for bringing change for the better to Ontario’s long-term care system. Changes include:

• 40,000 long-term care beds will be added, including 15,000 over the next five years
• Horwath will set a minimum standard to ensure every resident in long-term care is offered four hours of hands-on care every day
• A find-and-fix public inquiry will address problems risking the safety, dignity and health of long-term care residents
• Horwath will update the Long-Term Care Residents’ Bill of Rights to enshrine the right of spouses not to be separated against their will

“I’m proud of what we are offering Ontario families,” said Horwath. “We have heard too many horror stories from families with a loved one in care – people sleeping in soiled diapers, relatives coming to visit and finding open sores because their loved one hadn’t been out of bed for days at a time. Front-line staff in these homes are run off their feet – they are doing the best that they can, but with decades of Liberal cuts – and the promise of more cuts from the Conservative leader – they just can’t keep up. We need to invest in the health and dignity of the seniors who built this province.”

Horwath’s other changes for the better include universal pharmacare, dental care for everyone, the conversion of students loans to grants and an end to the hallway medicine crisis that decades of Liberal and Conservative cuts have caused in Ontario’s hospitals.

The fully costed platform can be found at ontariondp.ca/platform.