April 10th, 2017

NDP: Ontario seniors and families losing faith in long-term care services

NDP Home and Long-Term Care Critic Teresa Armstrong says Liberal government inaction is driving long-term care to the breaking point, leaving many families struggling to find quality care for their loved ones.

“Seniors are not happy with long-term care today. They are worried sick about their loved ones. They have little confidence in oversight,” said Armstrong this morning during question period. “After fourteen years in power, after fourteen years to improve long-term care, after fourteen years of inaction, when will this Liberal government finally admit that it has spent fourteen years failing the seniors of Ontario?”

A recent poll by CARP, formerly known as the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, found deep dissatisfaction with long-term care facilities among its 300,000 members. Nearly 40 per cent of members surveyed rated the quality of long-term care in their province as either poor (33 per cent), or very poor (6 per cent), less than 1 per cent rated the facilities in their province as ‘excellent,’ and over 85 per cent of respondents agreed that facilities failing to provide the services necessary for dignified care should face consequences.

Wanda Morris, the CEO Vice-President of Advocacy for CARP, said these findings should be a “wake-up call” to Health Ministers across the country.

“Seniors have little faith in the oversight of long-term care. And they want standards of decency and care to protect every resident,” said Armstrong, MPP for London-Fanshawe. “Why is this government refusing to listen to seniors and refusing to do the right thing to protect the safety and dignity of every long-term care resident?”