Ontario hiring new LTC inspections staff as 269 new COVID-19 cases reported – CBC

Government also bringing back proactive inspections, which were all but stopped before the pandemic

Oct 26, 2021

The provincial government announced Tuesday that it is spending $20 million this year to hire 193 new inspections staff and launch a proactive inspections program in Ontario’s long-term care homes.

Proactive inspections were all but stopped by the province before the pandemic, as a CBC News investigation showed that only nine out of 626 homes in Ontario actually received so-called “resident quality inspections” in 2019.

The long-term care sector was devastated by COVID-19, with a Canadian Armed Forces report revealing major problems in facilities meant to care for some of the province’s most vulnerable residents.

The province says this new spending will double the number of long-term care inspectors in Ontario by the fall of 2022, with a ratio of one inspector for every two homes. That means, according to a news release, that there will be enough inspectors to proactively visit each home every year, while also continuing inspections on a complaints basis.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-covid-october-26-2021-1.6225277