Shirlee Sharkey's report on long-term care homes September 2008- Shirlee Sharkey's report on staffing and care standards was released in June 2008. This report is the result of months of consultation by Ms. Sharkey and her team with many stakeholders, including the long-term care industry, home administrators, staff, family council members and advocacy groups like Concerned Friends. The report endorses two goals: • Strengthen the staff capacity for better care, and • Establish a strong foundation for quality care and accountability for resident outcomes. The report does not recommend a provincial staffing standard, but it does recognize the need for more funding to strengthen staff capacity. It recommends provincial guidelines to support funding increases to raise the level of care to an average of four hours per day per resident over the next four years. To improve accountability the report recommends linking resources to resident outcomes through measurements of quality care and resident and staff satisfaction. The Ontario Health Quality Council is to take the lead on this issue. Concerned Friends does not disagree with the main recommendations in this report. We applaud the two over-riding goals and look forward to funding increases to support four hours of care per resident per day. However, we have been somewhat skeptical about the need for such a prolonged consultation process to come up with goals that most residents, families and advocates have been recommending for years. We sincerely hope that the recommended funding does come through as recommended. A good sign is the government's announcement in August that $23.3 million is being provided to create 873 new personal support worker positions in long-term care homes. This will increase the average paid hours of direct daily care to 3.26 hours per resident. It is said to be the first round of funding which will add 2,500 new personal support workers and 2,000 more nurses over the next four years. The government promises that by 2011 the average paid hours of direct daily care per resident will increase to 3.5 hours. Shirlee Sharkey's Report, People Caring for People, can be found on the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care website. |