Ontario Taking Action at High Risk Long-Term Care Homes

Government deploying inspection teams to long-term care homes, starting process for alternative management to take over five long-term care homes

The Voice of Canada News:

TORONTO — Today, the Ontario government is taking additional immediate action at high-risk long-term care homes, following the disturbing allegations outlined by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). 

The Ministry of Long-Term Care has deployed long-term care inspection teams to conduct comprehensive, detailed inspections at high-risk long-term care homes over the next 21 days. At the same time, the Ministry of Long-Term Care has started the process of appointing temporary management at Eatonville Care Centre, Hawthorne Place Care Centre, Altamont Care Community, Orchard Villa, and Camilla Care Community. Further, the recently announced independent commission into Ontario’s long-term care system will now begin its work in July 2020.

“We are taking further steps to protect our most vulnerable seniors across the province and fix the broken system we inherited. We will do whatever it takes to get the job done because as Premier, the buck stops with me,” said Premier Doug Ford. “I made a commitment to our long-term care residents and their families that there would be accountability and justice after receiving the military’s heart-breaking report on the state of five of our homes.”

Starting tomorrow, long-term care inspectors will be assessing six homes including those captured in the CAF reports and any reports previously filed regarding critical incidents in those homes. Six teams of two long-term care inspectors will go into each of the homes to do an expanded, stringent inspection process over a two-week period. The six homes being inspected include Eatonville Care Centre, Hawthorne Place Care Centre, Orchard Villa, Altamont Care Community, Camilla Care Community, and Holland Christian Homes Inc.

The teams will develop a customized inspection plan based on the details outlined in the CAF report. Their inspections will include record and chart reviews; in-depth interviews with staff and residents; and observations in order to determine the extent of the issues. The inspectors will follow a rigorous and consistent inspection methodology for all inspections.

After an inspection is completed in a high-risk home, the ministry will set up regular status calls, monitoring, as well as regular unannounced in-person follow up inspections with the home. Results of these and all other inspections will be posted publicly on the ministry website.

The government is also inspecting other long-term care homes that are currently considered high-risk over the next 21 days. Additionally, working with hospital and other partners, each of these homes will be required to submit a plan for the ministry that details how they intend to return to acceptable levels of care immediately.

“What we saw in the reports from the Canadian Armed Forces was gut-wrenching and appalling,” said Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Our inspectors are professionals like nurses, dieticians and physiotherapists and they will stop at nothing to ensure all high-risk homes are quickly returned to places of safety and stability.”

Allegations such as the ones contained in the CAF report triggers the Ministry of Long-Term Care to share its findings with other agencies which may result in:

• Police investigations and potential criminal charges
• Ministry of Labour inspections into worker health and safety, given the lack of training observed
• Public health inspections into food preparation, etc.
• Referrals to professional colleges for practice standard violations, given medication management and care observations

During this unprecedented time, inspectors will continue to be deployed to ensure all homes are compliant with the Long-Term Care Homes Act. When the ministry receives any information from any source, it is immediately triaged. Where there is high or moderate risk to residents, a risk level is assigned and inspections are conducted in the home, regardless of its outbreak status.

The government’s priority is protecting the health and well-being of Ontarians, especially long-term care residents who are among Ontario’s most vulnerable seniors. The government will continue to explore every opportunity to provide further support to long-term care partners as the situation evolves.

Quick Facts

• The Canadian Armed Forces will continue to provide support until June 12, 2020.
• A recent emergency order made on May 12, 2020 allows the Ministry of Long-Term Care to order alternative management to temporarily manage a long-term care home where at least one resident or staff member has tested positive for COVID-19. A mandatory management order helps to address the outbreak and effectively protects our most vulnerable Ontarians from COVID-19.
• Every long-term care home in Ontario gets inspected at least once a year.
• The ministry’s more than 140 inspectors conducted 2,882 inspections in 2019 to ensure that long-term care homes are safe and well-operated, and are meeting all the requirements in the Act and Regulation.
• Inspectors are the ministry’s frontline teams and play a critical role in collecting information and coordinating to ensure that long-term care homes in critical need of support are receiving the supplies, staff and support they need.
• Inspections conducted by the Ministry of Long-Term Care continue to be the most rigorous in Canada. Ontario’s legislation is the most prescriptive so in turn, the requirements for long-term care operators are the strictest in the country. As recommended by Ontario’s Auditor General, the ministry uses a risk-based inspection approach, which prioritizes issues and homes based on risk of harm to residents. This approach to inspections was also endorsed by the Gillese Inquiry.
• Concerns about compliance in long-term care homes should be reported as soon as possible to the ministry by calling the Family Support and Action Line at 1-866-434-0144.