OLTCA welcomes call for renewed collaboration in resident safety
Task force action plan calls for all stakeholders to prevent abuse and neglect
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 -- Kristian Partington
The action plan released last week by the Long-Term Care Task Force on Resident Care and Safety contains 18 recommendations the sector and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care should implement to better protect Ontario’s 77,000 long-term care residents against the threat of abuse or neglect.

Among those recommendations is a call for the ministry to review the legislation governing Ontario’s long-term care homes with the intent of “streamlining reporting requirements that focus attention away from direct resident care,” and ensuring “that inspection, reporting, compliance and improvement processes effectively support a culture of ongoing quality improvement.”

OLTCA president and board chair Patrick McCarthy welcomes the report and its call for an enhanced culture of collaboration to improve quality and ensure resident safety.

Co-operation among all stakeholders is an important part of implementing the recommendations, McCarthy says, noting he’s confident the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will be supportive of any measures taken to offer greater security for residents.

“My sense is that (the ministry) is eager to affect change and they are especially eager to look at system changes that are reflected in some of the recommendations,” McCarthy says.

He notes that the care needs of residents continue to grow more complex and the report recognizes that not all homes are currently equipped to handle sever responsive behaviours.

Specialty care units created with these challenges in mind are recommended, along with the funding increase required to “cover specialized programs and the high needs of residents, and appropriate staffing with specialized skills.” 

McCarthy acknowledges that some recommendations, such as those addressing staffing ratios or special units or homes, will require re-examination of funding models in difficult economic times.

Some recommendations, however, require only “a change in culture,” he says, and a renewed understanding that there are many best practices from which the entire sector could benefit from.

Restoring the advisory capacity of ministry compliance officers, for example, as called for in Recommendation 17, will allow for their knowledge to be used to further enhance resident care and safety.

“In the course of their work, (ministry inspectors) do come across best practices and they’re in a better position to see what the contributing and underlying causes (of potential abuse or neglect) are,” McCarthy says.

He says working with the ministry at a system level will be a “prime objective” of the OLTCA moving forward.

If you have questions or comments, please contact kristian(at)axiomnews.ca. Click here to access the full report or here for the executive summary.