Ontario nursing homes need change to prevent second wave of COVID-19 deaths: Ombudsman
Posted October 8, 2020 8:16 am.
Last Updated October 8, 2020 9:53 am.
There is a stern warning from Ontario’s patient ombudsman that nursing homes need immediate changes to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 deaths.
In a 31 page report detailing her offices investigation into long-term care homes, Cathy Fooks, says what’s clear is that they must prevent what happened in the spring from happening again.
Many of the horrors of COVID-19 in these homes were first outlined in a report from the military, which was called in to help at a number of nursing homes.
This new report details more than a dozen of the nearly 570 complaints the ombudsman received between March and July.
Fooks says 24 complaints were so alarming, her office notified the ministry of long-term care immediately.
She says it is clear that a number of homes experienced organizational breakdowns and were unable to fulfil their basic functions.
Many of the complaints were about the lack of communication between nursing homes and families.
More than 1,900 nursing home residents and eight workers have died during the pandemic, accounting for about two-thirds of the province’s COVID-19 fatalities.
There are currently 53 outbreaks in nursing homes.
