Home Care Ontario CEO says Urgent Additional Investments are Needed in the Home Care Sector
by Bob Montgomery
As the Provincial government prepares to announce the 2024 budget, Home Care Ontario has launched a campaign stating that the home care sector is going to need 1.25 billion dollars over the next three years to meet increasing patient demand.
Home Care CEO Sue Vanderbent says the increase in funding is going to be necessary to keep the home care system going, and keeping the home care system going is critical in order to take some of the pressure off of hospitals and ERs. The campaign is called More Home Care and Vanderbent says there's no doubt that most people want to remain in their home for as long as possible. A recent survey showed 96% of respondents said they wanted to remain in their home to the end.
Vanderbent points out Ontario's seniors' population is set to increase by 15% in the next five years which will place staggering demands on an already strained health care system. She says the campaign makes it clear the province has to act now to ensure the health system does not crumble under the added pressure and that home care is the answer to addressing this looming issue. Vanderbent says Home Care is the solution to taking pressure off of the hospitals, and Home Care can be scaled up faster than any other part of the health care system. And it's also significantly less expensive than care in a hospital.
Vanderbent says Home Care Ontario is calling on the government to invest an additional 411 million dollars each year for the next three years to improve patient-centred care and support its home care workforce. This investment will be directed towards further improving front line compensation, providing ongoing specialized training and mentorship to help retain existing home care staff, and modernizing the sector's digital infrastructure to help create an electronic patient record that can been seen and updated by home care staff in real time.
More information about the campaign can be found at the More Home Care website.
