In our report last week we confronted the fact that patient-centred care can be a reality or a dream. RNAO’s work with Ontario Health Teams on person-and-family centred-care was at the centre of a BPSO OHT four hour meeting a few weeks ago, and here we have another glimpse, arising from that meeting, on what person-and-family-centred care looks like from the field. The following is a contribution from Judy Smith, who shares a story about her mother-in-law Reta.

As our readers are aware, RNAO has been at the forefront of the demand to establish national standards in LTC, given the failure of provincial governments to act – for two decades – and the tragedy brought by the pandemic as a result. This week, RNAO wrote again to the prime minister and to Premier Doug Ford in anticipation of their meeting reiterating the urgency to establish standards. See the October 14 letter below.

Our experience over the last seven months has demonstrated that this is not only a problem in Ontario. COVID-19 swept through LTC homes across the country early, taking the lives of more than 5,000 residents. That number represents more than 80 per cent of all COVID-19-related deaths in Canada. To our shame, the average percentage of COVID-19-related deaths among nursing home residents across other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries was less than half of Canada’s. This is a national failing that cries out for a national response.

RNAO’s work with Ontario Health Teams on person-and-family centred-care was at the centre of a BPSO OHT meeting two weeks ago. Please get a real glimpse of what person-and-family-centred care looks like from the field by reading the two contributions shared below from a caregiver and a health provider. The first one, by Mik Phipps, is a glimpse into person-centred-care at its best – and how small actions can have enormous meaning. The second, contributed by Helen Lascelle, shares an experience where patient-centred-care was a dream, not a reality.

Nurses are relieved to hear Premier Ford is taking important steps to lessen the spread of COVID-19, especially in areas where cases counts are especially high, including Toronto, Peel and Ottawa. The government should act fast to add additional regions to these measures, based on the relevant indicators.

RNAO has been a central voice in Ontario alerting for the need to engage action against a galloping second wave of COVID-19. You can see some of our multiple interventions in social and mainstream media -- asking for government intervention from early September -- when we warned that, baring closures of inside non-essential places, we would see disastrous results. Today, the Ontario government took action. Here is RNAO’s press release today.

RNAO has been increasingly alarmed at the rise of cases and the timid measures advanced by the Ontario government to flatten the second wave. Simply said, the later we act, the larger the price we will pay – both in illness, death, an overwhelmed healthcare system, and in economic costs. This is a basic lesson we learned during the first wave, and we are extremely worried.

RNAO has been increasingly alarmed at the rise of cases and the timid measures advanced by the Ontario government to flatten the second wave. Simply said, the later we act, the larger the price we will pay – both in illness, death, an overwhelmed healthcare system, and in economic costs. This is a basic lesson we learned during the first wave, and we are extremely worried. Today, RNAO issued a press release, reproduced below. We have also been intensively in the media making a call for immediate action. Our presence is also being felt in Twitter.

Why is RNAO insisting that the federal government set National Standards for LTC homes in Canada and tie federal funding to upholding jurisdictions to deliver those standards? In short, we’ve lost trust that the Ontario government will act in any substantive way in the absence of external pressure. In Ontario alone, more than 35 reports on LTC have been issued in 21 years, and although during this period we’ve had a number of different governments, not much has been done to improve the lives of LTC residents, their families and the hard-working staff that serve them.

Wednesday’s federal Throne Speech was an important policy moment in Canada. Please see below RNAO’s press release issued after the Speech. RNAO was successful in achieving two major asks in our Vision for A Just Recovery for All: 1) the federal government will work with the provinces and territories to set National Standards for Long-Term Care (LTC) so that seniors get the best support possible, with funding attached to those standards, and 2) strengthening the National Housing Strategy announced in 2017 by increasing investments to rapid housing in the short term, and partnering with not-for-profits and co-ops in the mid- to long-term. The commitment is to end chronic homelessness.