TORONTO, Oct. 25, 2018 /CNW/ - Today, the Ontario Long Term Care Association revealed its plan to assist with the province's goal of ending hallway medicine, by reducing wait times and improving care for seniors living in long-term care homes. The Association laid out its key recommendations to the new Ontario government, lauding their goal of fixing hallway medicine once and for all.

"Frontline staff remain dedicated to meeting the escalating needs of seniors across the province. But we've reached an alarming tipping point," said Candace Chartier, Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Long Term Care Association. "Wait lists have grown at an astounding rate, long-term care is in the midst of a health human resource crisis and half of Ontario's homes need to be rebuilt. These challenges, which have the potential to overwhelm Ontario's health care system, have been left largely unaddressed for the past 15 years. It's time for Ontario's new government to make meaningful progress towards resolving these issues."

Unveiled at the Economic Club of Canada, the plan entitled, Long-term care that works. For seniors. For Ontario., presents key recommendations to assist the province in providing better seniors' care while also relieving pressure on hospitals and promoting cost savings. Some of these recommendations include:

• Hire more staff: Changing the requirement for 24/7 registered nurse coverage to 24/7 registered staff coverage when appropriate, while ensuring homes can utilize more flexible approaches to staffing.
• Build and modernize homes: Focusing on adding the government's promised 15,000 new beds to existing homes, making them more economic to redevelop in the future.
• Focus on care, not on unnecessary government paperwork: Conducting a legislative review of the Long-Term Care Homes Act to limit the unintended administrative burden care staff experience daily.

"Ontario's new government has already made concrete steps towards the goal of building more long-term care beds," said Chartier. "The province can leverage the Association's existing long-term care expertise to meet our health care system's capacity challenge head on. By working together, long-term care can and will do better."

About the Ontario Long Term Care Association
The Ontario Long Term Care Association is the largest association of long-term care providers in Canada and the only association that represents the full mix of long-term care operators — private, not-for-profit, charitable, and municipal. The Association represents nearly 70% of Ontario's 630 long-term care homes, located in communities across the province. Our members provide care and accommodation services to more than 70,000 residents annually. For more information visit www.oltca.com.