After a CTV News report revealed that nearly 60 per cent of Ontario's long-term care homes have not had a Resident Quality Inspection this year, the province is promising to get them done in six weeks.
During an exchange at Queen's Park, Associate Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Dipika Damerla told London-Fanshawe MPP Teresa Armstrong that all inspections will be completed by mid-January.
But she didn't explain how inspectors are going to be able to do 70 per cent more inspections in the next few weeks than they've been able to do in the past 11 months.
The lack of comprehensive inspection in 2014 could mean low staffing levels, improper use of restraints and even instances of abuse are going unnoticed and uncorrected.
As of the start of December, 377 of Ontario's 643 long-term care homes had not had rigorous inspections, despite a 2013 promise they would all be inspected every year.
Armstrong says "Seniors and their families don't have the protections they were promised...The Liberals, what they do when they break a promise - they change the promise and hope that nobody notices."
But Damerla said, 'Speaker, the main thing is the intent,' adding that all homes will be scheduled for an inspection before the year's end, the promise isn't changing and the ministry just needs more time.
"By the middle of January every last inspection will be done. There's a holiday and that's the reason."
But that's a commitment to complete inspections of 377 homes in six weeks, when it has taken 11 months to cover 266 homes.
In the year ending Oct. 31, 2014, the ministry says its completed over 2,600 inspections, but those are primarily based complaints about isolated issues - not comprehensive inspections of an entire facility.
Smokey Thomas of OPSEU says it's a cycle - fewer inspections means more complaints.
"Regular inspections are the key to keeping people honest...If they would actually focus on the inspections like they're supposed to, they'd have a lot less complaints. Because nursing homes could be told, 'Here's what you need to fix, fix it.'"
The ministry says it takes a priority approach for these comprehensive inspections, so those with most complaints or the most infractions, take priority.
"Any home that we feel may be of a higher risk, gets inspected first, so there's a way of ensuring that we manage the risk," Damerla says.
But of the 10 homes with the most violations per bed in southwestern Ontario, only four have completed Resident Quality Inspections this year.
Meanwhile the ministry says recruitment efforts are ongoing and it aims to have 192 inspectors dedicated to long-term care homes shortly.
