Thread by @OntarioHealthC

Ford Gov'ts New LTC Act
Quick Initial Analysis
Oct. 28, 2021 at 3 p.m.

@fordnation & @rodphillips01 have gone to extreme lengths to brand this as a new LTC Act. It is not a new Act at all! But there are some changes.
#onpoli

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For full summary:
ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/rele…

Bottom line? There are a few amendments to the existing Act. Many of them fluff. A few of them (particularly those favouring expansion of for-profit ownership) are terrible. The most-teased promise of new enforcement mostly currently exists....
2/

... (cont'd) & @fordnation has sat on those powers already for years without holding a single operator accountable (in fact quite the opposite).

Quick details/summary:

For-Profit Privatization: @fordnation dropped the requirement to promote non-profit delivery of #LTC
3/

cont'd... @fordnation added in "AND mission driven" which are weasel words for for-profit owned facilities. There is no definition of mission driven in the new Act. Under this government the for-profit Schlegel chain is considered mission driven (!) 4/

cont'd... It's a gaping loophole that allows ALL the for-profits through, and of course we already know that the Ford government is mid-stream in awarding 1000s of new beds to the same for-profit chains. This is a major loss and is not in the public interest. 5/

cont'd...
#LTC Staffing/minimum care standard:

This is a reannouncement & so far the evidence does not support that this is real. Bottom line: we got it in the Act sort of. However, the struggle to win this for real continues. 6/

cont'd...
In the new #LTC Act there's a "target" to increase care to 4 hrs/resident/day but not until 2025. This was already announced Dec 2020. The plan is back-end loaded to the last 2-yrs after the next provincial election when there is little way to hold them accountable. 7/

cont'd...
So far @fordnation has announced/ reannounced tens of thousands of #LTC staff, yet those staff have never materialized. (It is about saving $$). The planned numbers are far below what is needed to get to 4-hours & staff the new beds they say they are opening. 8/

cont'd...
NB: the 4-hours of care in the new Act is a "target" for 2025. It expressly states this is direct care provided by RN/RPN/PSWs (good!). A "target" in law seems less than a requirement & there's no actual staffing plan to get there. Good that it is in the Act though. 9/

cont'd...
Pandemic Plans:
Bare bones wording has been inserted under "Emergency Plans" mentioning a requirement that there be a plan for pandemics & epidemics. Such plan is left up to the home or possibly regulations (not written). 10/

cont'd...
Requirements for Licenses:
@fordnation has kept the sections of the #LTC Act that require the Ministry/Minister to consider the public interest, take into account the record of the operator, & the need for LTC beds in a particular geographic area. 11/

cont'd...
Enforcement:
The most touted parts of the new #LTC Act is this. It is tentatively positive, but the context in which we have to assess it is this: @fordnation has for 3-yrs done nothing to hold any of the terrible operators to account despite already having powers 11/

cont'd...
Already in the existing #LTC Act @fordnation could fine, charge provincial offenses, suspend licenses, revoke licenses, appoint management to take over the homes & stop new admissions (which hurts them in the pocket book). 12/

cont'd...
Doubling fines sounds great but the existing hefty fines ($100,000 per home or penalties from provincial offenses) have never been enforced and the Ford government has been sitting on them without enacting/using them since it took office. 13/

cont'd...

More to come:
We will send out more as we compare the new legislation with the previous act more closely.

Frankly, this is a LOT of PR for very little.

End.