Four County of Simcoe long-term care homes will be sharing the spoils of new provincial base funding that's being allocated to increase nursing and personal care.
The funding will result in an increase nursing and personal care staffing by a total of 47.3 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in facilities, which include Georgian Manor in Penetanguishene, Simcoe Manor in Beeton, Sunset Manor in Collingwood, and Trillium Manor in Orillia.
According to staff report included in Tuesday's committee of the whole agenda, on March 24, the Ministry of Long-Term Care announced funding for 2024-25 to support the continuation of staffing programs to achieve a provincial combined average of four hours of registered nurse (RN), registered practical nurse (RPN) and personal support worker (PSW) care per resident, per day, by 2025.
On May 3, results of the 2024-25 Annual Level of Care Case Mix Index funding for the county’s long-term care homes were announced, with the county receiving a net increase of $311,000.
On May 23, Ontario Health announced that the ministry had confirmed an annual cost-of-living funding increase of 6.6 per cent, which led to a $2.6-million surplus over and above the county’s 2024 budget.
“The overall subsidy funding impact is an increase of $6.35-million compared to the 2024 operating budget,” stated the report to county council, which also recommended earmarking $3.9 million of that funding to support increases in direct responsible care (DCR) hours.
These additional hours of service will move all the county’s long-term care homes to an average of four hours of DRC in 2024-25, which means they will all meet the provincial recommendation.
In addition to the increased hours of direct care, the report says the ministry has been providing funding to increase the direct "allied health professional" (AHP) care to residents to 36 minutes per resident, per day, by March 31, 2025.
That supplemental funding for 2024-25 meant an increase to $158.82 per bed, per month, compared to a budget of $150.50 per bed, per month, which equals an additional $41,000 for the county’s long-term care homes.
The ministry's annual level-of-care funding is based on the Case Mix Index (CMI), which is a ministry calculation of the average level of care for each long-term care home assessed on an annual basis and compared to the provincial average level-of-care results for 2024-25 for all long-term care homes in Ontario.
The provincial CMI average in the 2024-25 report was 1.0218. Locally, the CMI exceeded the provincial average for each of the county's four long-term care homes, and three increased in CMI over the prior year.
The ministry also announced a 6.6 per cent increase in the level-of-care per diem associated with base funding, which the staff report described as a “significant increase” compared to prior years, going from $195.69 to $208.65 and resulting in the incremental funding for 2024 being an additional $2.6 million.
“With a net increase in overall nursing and personal care funding, including the DRC, the CMI and the level-of-care funding programs, staff are recommending that nursing hours be added to each of the (long-term care) homes to reach the four hours per resident, per day, in areas that have been determined to be the highest priority,” stated the report.
The incremental funding for the programs is approximately $6.35 million, compared to the 2024 operating budget, while the cost associated with the staffing recommended is approximately $3.9 million, noted the report.
