Ontario is poised to spend an additional $1.1 billion on home health care. This funding is a big piece of a larger strategy to move $6 billion into home care in the next several years. This large infusion of new capital aims to enhance and expand the quality of care patients receive. It will do this by hiring 30,000 more nurses and personal support workers. The effort envisions using the same technology to reach thousands more patients and deliver high-quality medical care inside their homes. This is an important step in easing the burden on our hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Ontario is taking meaningful action to restore confidence in home care. The next three years will be a wave of opportunity as this funding rolls out. This decision comes at an inflection point. Sadly, the province is still a long way from achieving its long-term care manifesto.
Ontario has committed to a pace of 58,000 new or upgraded nursing home beds by 2028. As of February, there are just under 26,000 beds. This includes all of the ones that are open, under construction or that have received a green light to begin building. Shortly after taking power, the province announced an aspirational target of 30,000 new long-term care beds by 2029. Unfortunately, it has faced overwhelming obstacles in achieving this goal.
Meanwhile, Toronto has experienced an especially dramatic net loss of nursing home beds overall, with at least 700 beds lost through homes closing. Operators of long-term care say that most people to enter their care homes first go to hospitals. This worrisome trend underscores the dangerous overreliance on hospitals as a solution to growing long-term care needs.
The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted long-term care homes in Ontario. This lead to thousands of patient deaths and even military deployment in some infected facilities. The lingering effects of the virus have compounded existing challenges in the long-term care sector, creating an urgent need for improvements and expansions.
In response to the ongoing issues, the Ontario government has implemented a capital funding program designed to facilitate new builds of long-term care homes. Yet several critics have argued that the federal government has made little to no progress.
“The Conservative government is behind on building the number of long-term care beds it said that it would build and that’s really concerning,” said Jessica Bell.
Despite these obstacles, Ontario’s Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is bullish on the future of the province’s healthcare system.
“Well, we’re going to continue to try. We’re ambitious here,” he stated.
Bethlenfalvy underscored the importance of moving care to home environments. It’s evident that most people would much rather get care in their homes.
“A part of our strategy for health care is to help people where they want to be taken care of,” he added. “I know many, many people who would prefer to age at home … so we’re transitioning to providing that home care.”
Saskatchewan provincial legislator Natalia Kusendova-Bashta added to the discussion, cautioning stakeholders that it’s not as easy as just expanding or adding long-term care services.
“We have to give ourselves some grace,” she remarked.
The $1.1 billion investment in home health care is a big leap in the right direction. It meets patients where they are, addressing urgent care needs, while confronting exacerbating long-term care infrastructure issues. Ontario is moving forward with its funding plans to support better patient care. Our collective aim is further improving healthcare services to make them more accessible, equitable, and effective for the people we serve.
