TORONTO - Health
Minister should establish staffing
standards in nursing homes now – not
wait for the results of another
study – says the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union.
OPSEU is urging the
McGuinty government to fulfill their
promise to establish nursing home
staffing standards after the airing
of an Oct. 17 CBC Marketplace
feature on the escalation of
patient-to-patient violence in long
term care.
“The McGuinty
government has stalled long enough,”
says Warren (Smokey Thomas), OPSEU
President. “Internationally
recognized studies have established
that 3.5 hours of direct care per
resident per day is what’s needed.
It’s time to implement it now.”
OPSEU is also
critical of the escalation of
for-profit beds in the long term
care sector under the Liberal and
Conservative governments. About 60
per cent of all publicly-funded long
term care beds in the province are
run on a for-profit basis – twice as
many as any other province in
Canada, including British Columbia
and Alberta.
The government has
appointed Shirlee Sharkey, CEO of
the St. Elizabeth’s Health care, to
research staffing standards, meet
with stakeholders, and make her
recommendations in the New Year.
“We all know what
the problem is. How much longer is
the government going to study the
problem while seniors sit all day in
soiled diapers, while reported
incidents of violence continue to
skyrocket?” says Thomas.
OPSEU is also
calling on the government to put a
halt to any further reductions in
mental health beds at the province’s
psychiatric hospitals.
