The Liberal government must enshrine new national standards for long-term care homes in law if it is to fulfill a commitment from the NDP’s Trust and Support Agreement, the New Democrat critic said Tuesday. Health Democrat.
A panel of experts from the Health Standards Organization (ONS) released an update to proposed guidelines for long-term care in Canada on Tuesday, in light of the deadly and tragic toll the COVID-19 pandemic has taken. has done to these residents and their quality of life.
The new standards proposed by this non-profit organization, which are not currently applied, provide that residents receive at least four hours of “direct care” each day and that those who work with them are paid more.
As part of the agreement reached in March with the NDP for this party to support the minority government in votes of confidence in the Commons until 2025, the Liberals have pledged, among other things, to pass “a law on long-term care safe duration”.
The Liberal government has not yet committed to legislating the standards, but federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said consultations on the new bill will begin in the “coming months”.
New Democrat MP Don Davies, his party’s health critic, said on Tuesday that the new standards proposed by the ONS must form the basis of this promised law.
“If care is to be safe, those standards need to be in law,” Davies said outside the House.
Areas of skills
In any case, this is delicate territory for the federal government, since long-term care falls under provincial jurisdiction.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has previously indicated that the federal government is discussing with provinces and territories new standards for the quality, design and operation of long-term care homes across Canada.
He acknowledged on Tuesday that the provinces are responsible for providing and regulating care, but he stressed that all Canadians want elder care to be held to the highest standards. “That’s what we’re going to continue to work on,” Trudeau said on his way to the weekly cabinet meeting.
ONS experts have clarified that the new standards will only be useful if the government puts them into practice and ensures they are adhered to. Dr. Samir Sinha, who led the expert technical committee on the new standards, believes they could become the basis for provincial legislation, public policy and other accountability measures.
Currently, each province sets its own rules for licensing, operating and inspecting long-term care, creating a patchwork system across the country to govern how facilities are to be designed, operated and maintained.
Trudeau promised during the 2021 election campaign to legislate safety in long-term care across the country. The Liberals reiterated this promise by signing the support and confidence agreement with the New Democrats, but the government has not yet specified what this legislation would entail.
“We will continue to work with provinces and territories in their efforts to support these standards of long-term care in their own communities,” Elders Minister Kamal Khera said Tuesday as she left the cabinet meeting. .
Bilateral agreements?
His colleague Duclos suggested that the government could sign bilateral agreements with the provinces to enforce new national standards.
The government set aside $3 billion in Budget 2021 to help provinces and territories enforce long-term care standards, raise salaries and improve staff-to-patient ratios. “Now we look forward to signing agreements with the provinces and territories to see how they can use these dollars to better meet these new standards,” Duclos said.
But it will probably take a lot more money to implement the new standards. In 2021, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated it would cost $4.3 billion more a year just to provide patients with at least four hours of daily care, as the ONS now recommends.
MP Davies said the NDP would likely be flexible on how the standards will be enforced by the provinces. “I think what Canadians really care about is making sure their loved ones or their elders are properly taken care of in long-term care homes,” he said. I don’t think they really care that much about the setting. »
Some provinces already require long-term care homes to be accredited to ONS standards, while others rely on a voluntary commitment by each facility.
The ONS expects approximately 68% of long-term care homes in Canada to be accredited on a voluntary or mandatory basis using the new standards. But Dr. Sinha warns that accreditation will not be enough: we will have to ensure compliance with the new standards.
Design and build
Separately, and alongside the work of the ONS, new guidelines for long-term care home design and infection control practices were published last month, this time by CSA Group — formerly the “ACNOR”.
CSA Group standards cover everything from the number of residents who must share a room to the materials used to construct the building.
These standards are strictly voluntary for now, but the experts who developed these building standards hope that they will soon be included in regulations or laws.
“Time is running out because there are plans across the country to build new long-term care homes,” said Alex Mihailidis, who chaired the CSA Group committee.