The "dehumanizing" conditions of an Orillia long-term care home took centre stage at Queen's Park today.
MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie), NDP Critic for long-term care, retirement homes, and home care, received no answers from the Ford government after grilling them on an incident that occurred at Leacock Care Centre in Orillia, where a resident was forced to sit overnight in his own waste due to a staffing shortage at the long-term care home.
“Last week at a private, for-profit long-term care home in Orillia, a resident who lives with a disability was forced to sit in their own waste for an entire night due to staffing shortages at the home,” said Gates in a news release Monday. “Staff were unable to assist the resident due to a dire lack of personnel. And according to the resident, it’s not the first time that happened.”
After learning of the details from the original story published on OrilliaMatters, Paul Calandra, Ontario’s minister of long-term care, said the conditions described at the for-profit home “are unacceptable.”
“The Ministry of Long-Term Care will be conducting an inspection of the home to ensure any and all instances of non-compliance are corrected as quickly as possible,” Calandra said in a statement.
“Any home that fails to meet the care standards set out in the Fixing Long-Term Care Act is subject to corrective actions, including written notifications, administrative monetary penalties, and compliance orders," said Calandra.
“Repeated instances of non-compliance will result in escalating penalties, which could include mandatory management and cease of admissions orders.”
The incident is part of a "troubling pattern of staffing shortages and lack of attention to resident care and concerns in for-profit long-term care homes across the province of Ontario," noted the release from Gates.
“We know, during COVID, the majority of deaths tragically occurred in private, for-profit homes. When is this government going to stand up to private long-term care companies and say enough is enough?" asked Gates.
"This kind of operation cannot be acceptable.”
