Last April, the health minister announced Ontario would invest $1 billion over three years to shore up the home\u002D and community\u002Dcare system.
“We are going to run the risk of collapse, or at minimum of service rationalization,” if the province doesn’t quickly put enough money into home and community care to stabilize the system, said Steve Perry, CEO of Ottawa-based Carefor, Eastern Ontario’s largest home and community care agency. His is among the home- and community-care agencies and organizations pleading with the province to fast-track funding.
The announcement was welcomed by the agencies that provide home and community care to nearly 700,000 people. They say they have been struggling for years because of chronic underfunding and the situation has worsened during the pandemic because home-care workers are underpaid compared to counterparts in hospitals and long-term care.
Sixty-six per cent of home-care agencies across Ontario are planning to reduce service volumes as part of their budget planning process with Ontario Health, and 22 per cent say their wait lists for care will get longer. Planned cuts in service average about 27 per cent, which officials say translates into 874,975 hours of care that won’t be delivered to clients.
Perry says the agency’s referral acceptance rate — the number of referrals for services it can take on — is “historically low” at around 50 per cent.
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