Ontario Health Minister will not require minimum care standards for nursing home patients

Ontario’s health minister will not impose a minimum level of carefor nearly 75,000 seniors living in long-term care homes, disappointingcritics who called on him to mandate at least 3.5 hours of care per day.  “Thenumber alone is not the answer to the quality and outcome that weseek,” George Smitherman said yesterday as he released a long-awaitedreport into improving care in the sector. “This approach is moresophisticated than the number alone.”  The report makes 11recommendations, including increased staffing, developing tools tomeasure the quality of care and adding more consultation amongcaregivers.n  “I’m not in a position to commit today to moving to afour-hour mark,” he said. “I don’t have it in my budget. So it’s a mootpoint.”

Source/more:  Ottawa Citizen, http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=1fb68e22-cd37-4c87-949f-66f9d97e5709

Full report:  http://health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/ministry_reports/staff_care_standards/staff_care_standards.html