As home-care needs grow, what are Ontario’s major parties offering?

When Anna Foat’s late mother-in-law needed a higher level of personal care at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the family’s original plan was to take care of her in their home. 

At the time, Myrna Foat was in her early 80s and had been diagnosed with dementia. She needed help with all her basic daily needs, which turned out to be more than Foat and her husband could provide. Both had full-time jobs and two children, ages six and eight at the time. 

While there was a desire to keep Myrna with them, the family soon realized it was beyond their ability, largely because they didn’t have access to enough home care help.

“The burden on our family for caring for my mother-in-law 24/7 was literally unravelling our family,” said Anna. “You’re being asked to navigate a very complex system at a time of crisis.”

Anna said she was only able to get two weekly visits of 35 minutes each from a personal support worker. There was only enough time for the worker to complete one task before having to leave for another assignment. 

“If we had been given more care, more help, she maybe could have stayed with us longer,” she said. 

The family ended up getting Myrna a spot in a long-term care home at Country Terrace in Komoka in the fall of 2020 as an emergency case, but only after a long and complicated process. The family spoke to CBC News in 2021 about problems with the care Foat received at Country Terrace as the home dealt with a COVID-19 outbreak. Myrna Foat died this past December. 

Ontario needs to step up home-care supports, report shows

Anna said the experience of navigating her mother-in-law’s care has left her feeling Ontario’s home-care program needs more support. Her mother-in-law wanted to stay with the family.

A report released last year said Ontario needs to step up its home-care supports with the number of people 75 or older in the province forecast to rise by 350,000 in next 5 years.

Anna’s story is one Sue VanderBent has heard often as CEO of Home Care Ontario, an umbrella group of different agencies that provide home care. 

“We know there are families that want to care for their loved ones at home, but they need that additional support,” she said. 

In last year’s budget, the PC government pledged to spend $2 billion more over the next three years on home care.  

VanderBent said that increase is well appreciated, but Home Care Ontario is calling for even more — an additional spending boost of $2.1 billion over the next three years, which she said could create 16.5 million more hours of home care across the province. 

“We now have the capacity in place to build on that work and take our home-care system in Ontario to the next level.”

Jane Meadus, a lawyer with the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, agrees a “more robust” home-care system is needed to give seniors access to consistent care. 

“Right now the focus is on keeping people out of hospital, rather than preventing them from going in,” she said.  

What Ontario’s major parties are proposing

The Greens. The Ontario Green Party, in its platform, would support home care by paying the same wage to care providers “no matter the community or health-care setting.” The Greens say they would also cover travel for health-care workers to treat people at home.

The Liberals. Bonnie Crombie’s party promises to restore confidence in long-term care by boosting annual home-care spending by 25 per cent. The Liberals also promise a seniors’ home-care tax credit of up to 25 per cent of medical expenses each year, up to a cap of $10,000. The Liberals also said they would repeal Bill 7, which lets hospitals discharge patients into long-term care beds they didn’t choose.

The NDP. In its platform, the Ontario NDP promises to “stop the privatization of home care and long-term care” in part by ensuring “people can live at home longer as they age, with reliable and expanded services to support their need.” The NDP also says it would reverse Bill 7. The NDP’s plan doesn’t commit a dollar figure to its plan. 

The PCs. The party’s plan released Monday doesn’t mention home care specifically, although in last year’s budget, they announced $2 billion in new funding for home care. The party’s platform mentions a $6.4-billion plan to build 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds across the province by 2028.