QUEEN’S PARK — Green Party of Ontario Leader, Mike Schreiner, released the following statement regarding the release of the Long-Term Care Homes Public inquiry:
“Thank you to Justice Eileen Gillese, and Long-Term Care Homes Public Inquiry team for your comprehensive report. And my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims who lost their lives at the hands of Elizabeth Wettlaufer.
Seniors deserve the best quality care, yet it is horrifying to learn how Wettlaufer took advantage of understaffed facilities to harm others without detection.
A single nurse should not be responsible for 99 patients.
We must improve the minimum standard of care so that residents receive the quality of care they deserve, caregivers are not stretched so thin, and oversight of care is improved.
I urge the Minister of Long Term Care to conduct a study on adequate staffing levels, commit to increasing the number of nurses at long-term care facilities and mandate a minimum standard of care of four hours per day for seniors.
The recommendations from this inquiry will come with a price tag, but we owe it to seniors and loved ones to protect their dignity of care.
The Premier’s austerity agenda cannot come at the expense of our most vulnerable loved ones.”