Sue Vanderbent: Latest News

Ontario long-term care sees staff absences of 20% to 30% amid COVID outbreaks It says the situation is even more dire given the high number of staff absences as workers are exposed to or infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.The organization says the shortage is also putting added strain on Ontario’s hospital system, as the latest numbers from the province show 582 patients would be eligible to leave hospital with publicly funded home care, were the resources available.“We’re being deluged with calls and we do not have the staff to respond,” said Sue VanderBent, CEO of Home Care Ontario. “There are no longer enough nurses and personal support workers in the system to provide people with the help they need at home.”The organization said staff in the sector are paid less than their equivalents in other parts of the health-care system, though they perform similar work.For example, personal support workers are paid at least $5 per hour more if they work in long-term care homes or hospitals, Home Care Ontario said.

Ontario further extends temporary wage increase for personal support workers Nurses, personal support workers and therapists have left home care in droves during the COVID-19 pandemic.“We lost literally over 3,000 nurses and skilled therapists and personal support workers to other parts of the health-care system,” said Sue VanderBent, the CEO of Home Care Ontario, which represents home-care providers in the province.“And that is very bad news for Ontarians who are receiving home care because now our capacity is so depleted that people are just waiting at home for a home care nurse or therapist or PSW who isn’t coming.”The organization achieved a 95-per-cent referral acceptance rate before the pandemic, meaning it could fulfil the vast

Ontario’s drive to bolster staffing in long-term care homes hit hard by COVID-19 is leading to “destabilization” of the province’s home care labour force, a group representing providers said Sunday as it pressed the government to standardize wages for personal support workers.Sue VanderBent, the CEO of Home Care Ontario, said a group of 50 service organizations is concerned with increasing worker movement from home care to higher wage jobs in long-term care homes, where personal support workers are paid an average of $5 an hour more than they earn in community care settings.The rate at which workers accept home-care assignments, a key indicator for service delivery levels, have dropped by nearly 40 per cent in recent months, she said.

COVID-19 on long-term care residents in Canada has underscored the need for increased public funding for home care, advocates say.Most seniors want to stay at home for as long as possible, and their families want to support them to do so, but the cost and limited availability of home care forces many to “give up” and place their loved ones in long-term care, said Sue VanderBent, CEO of Home Care Ontario.