Smitherman insists budget will raise level of care in Ont. nursing homes

Health Minister George Smitherman dismissed criticism Wednesday that the provincial budget is failing seniors in Ontario nursing homes who are forced to wear soiled diapers for hours on end because facilities are so short-staffed.
  
The elderly will receive three hours of daily care thanks to new money earmarked for long-term care in Tuesday's budget, Smitherman said after critics slammed the budget as doing little to improve the plight of the elderly.
  
A budget promise to hire 2,500 personal support workers and 2,000 nurses over four years, as well as $278 million in spending on other programs, will add "millions of hours of additional care" to nursing homes, Smitherman said.

Inadequate response, opposition says

Opposition parties ridiculed Smitherman's numbers, saying they fell far short of the $500 million that nursing home groups were seeking to raise the level of personal care to a minimum of 3½ hours a day.
  
"A child in elementary school can do the division," said NDP Leader Howard Hampton. "What you've done is add six minutes more of nursing care or personal care."
  
No government would have been able to meet such a massive request for cash, Smitherman argued outside the legislature.
  
"Nobody has on one file the opportunity to make a 20 or 25 per cent one-year increase," he said.
  
"It's not practical from either a financial or a human resources standpoint."
  
Funding for long-term care will grow by more than five per cent to $2.83 billion as a result of Tuesday's budget, and the province will ensure that residents receive the extra hours of care that are being paid for, Smitherman added.
  
"No investment will be made in long-term care that doesn't result in additional hours of care," he said.

'Drop in the bucket,' critic says

But one critic said the level of care in nursing homes will decline rather than improve, despite the extra funds, because operating costs will outstrip any money allocated for new hires.
  
"It's a drop in the bucket compared to what we're asking for," said Donna Rubin, chief executive of the Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors.
  
"Five minutes is not very much of a difference. We've got people coming in our homes daily out of hospitals. I mean, hospitals are crying for us to take heavier care of people, and we can't."
  
Concerns over nursing home care have dogged Smitherman for weeks, particularly after the minister mused openly about testing an adult diaper to satisfy himself that elderly residents were receiving appropriate care.
  
The unusual remarks, which Smitherman has repeatedly said were not meant to offend, sparked outrage from opposition parties and calls for his resignation.
  
But groups representing caregivers say the real issue is the deplorable conditions in Ontario nursing homes, where residents are forced to wait hours for meals, are put to bed too early and aren't getting enough exercise because workers are run off their feet.
  
Following Tuesday's $96-billion budget, Sid Ryan of the Canadian Union of Public Employees slammed the Liberals for missing a "golden opportunity" to redeem themselves by doing something more for the frail and elderly.
  
The budget "will do nothing for people who are sitting in diapers for 10 or 12 hours on end," Ryan said Tuesday.
  
"It will do nothing for people with bed sores, nothing for people who are being fed on an assembly-line basis."