The Challenge.
Over 30,000 Ontarians are on a waitlist for a spot in long-term care. More than 2/3rds of Ontario seniors, or 68 per cent of those on waitlists, have requested a not-for-profit home as their first choice. But there simply are not enough spaces to accommodate Ontario’s aging population. Without government intervention, many of these people will remain on waitlists or end up in a care setting that is not their first choice. We owe it to our seniors to offer them long-term care that meets their needs, values and expectations.
We owe Ontario’s seniors more not-for-profit long-term care.
The Solutions.
As the Ontario government addresses issues in the long-term care sector, we need your help to call on decision-makers to take steps that would support community-owned, not-for-profit and municipal homes across Ontario. Current funding models favour the building of private, for-profit homes. Additionally, non-profit homes are at a disadvantage compared to for-profit homes when it comes to flexibility to raise wages, which is resulting in a more acute staffing crisis in non-profit homes. We are asking for Ontario to address:
#1 The need for better access to financing and development expertise for not-for-profit homes
Solution: Given that the current model for capital development favours for-profit homes, Ontario needs to create a tailor made program to help not-for-profit homes accelerate development and redevelopment opportunities. The province should make more capital funding available to not-for-profit homes and transform existing capital development funding programs into two streams, non-profit and for-profit.
#2 Wage unfairness which is causing an exodus of staff
Solution: We need to strike a better balance by aligning wages and benefits of LTC workers with those who work in hospitals or other health care settings. It is time to close the wage gap between those caring for our seniors and those caring for our loved ones in other health care settings. As a first step towards transforming long-term care in Ontario, the government needs to give all long-term care workers a raise so that they are paid at parity with other health care workers.