Thread - Fixing #longtermcare in Canada has become an urgent issue. While governmental # #commissions, enquiries & ombudsman reviews are starting up soon, it is important to remember that we do not need to wait to take needed steps. The recipe for improvement for LTC is clear...

1. Fix #Funding. It is painfully clear that the provinces cannot fund cash-starved #longtermcare. Dedicate & transfer needed federal funds to provs tied to meeting #NationalQualityStandard. Study creating a federal LTC Home #Regulator and tie #Funding and licensing to this.

2. Fix #Staffing. Improve wages, benefits create pensions. Pay the same level of staffing the same amount no matter if they work in #hospital, home care or LTC. Provide full-time, single-site jobs. Create educational grants. Add geriatric care to Canadian immigration priorities.

Put #doctors & #nurse back into #LTC. Increase skilled professional #staffing ratios by inverting the current trend of downshifting medical care to inconsistently trained, poorly paid #PersonalSupportWorkers. Require all medical professionals to have some #training in geriatrics

3. Fix Buildings. Make needed upgrades to facilities. In #Ontario alone, we stand to lose 30,000 of about 78,000 LTC beds because they will soon not pass fire safety standards. Create dedicated “swing space” for residents to live in while their original rooms are being upgraded.

Eliminate multi-person #ward rooms and shared #bathing facilities in #longtermcare. Upgrade HVAC systems and install #airconditioning in all resident rooms.

4. Fix #infectioncontrol. Get #longtermcare #residents are vaccinated for best in class #highdoseflu, #shingles, #pneumonia. Revamp Canada’s vaccine approval, purchase and distribution systems and test them by integrating the vaccines we already have that are proven effective.

Prioritize #PPE and #COVID19 #testing to #longtermcare. Create effective #supplychain management and integrated data systems for procurement of PPE and needed supplies, using the Alberta model

5. Fix the #Institutional Model. No one wants to be in a large institutional #LTC. Reject the medical, institutional model to an #emotionfocused model (eg Butterfly Model etc). Adopting one of these #transformative models of care makes residents and staff happier and safer

@picardonhealth @theresaboyle @_DebSchulte @policydeb @PattyHajdu @TheAgenda @spaikin @MoiraWelsh @ColinDMello @CityCynthia @KenyonWallace @DrFullertonMPP @patientombuds @janephilpott @janebarrattIFA @CanAgeSeniors @Amanda__Grenier @NICElderly @caryn_lieberman @ILCCanada #abuse

Fix #Caregiving: include #family and friends as #essential caregivers and include them as integral parts of the care team. Support Family Councils and Residents Councils, and make them required by legislation.