ONTARIO – The announcement marks a milestone in the province’s commitment to fixing the staggering problems in long-term care by reducing waitlists and providing seniors with a diverse quality of care.
“Having 30,000 new long-term care beds in development across the province was always an ambitious target,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Long-Term Care. “But through record provincial investments, close collaboration with our health partners, and innovative new approaches, we have delivered. To put this number in perspective, only 611 net new beds were built between 2011 and 2018.”
Ontario plans to invest an additional $3.7 billion, beginning in 2024-25, on top of the historic $2.68 billion already invested, to develop 10,000 net new and more than 12,000 upgraded beds across the province. These landmark investments would bring the total to $6.4 billion since spring 2019.
"The health and safety of our residents is our number one priority. We thank Minister Calandra and the Ministry of Long-Term Care for the opportunity to enhance and prioritize long-term care in Ontario with this new project,” said Ryan Bell, Southbridge Care Home. “We are excited for residents to move into our new home where they will experience our modern, safe and community-minded approach to living."
The commitment to build 30,000 new long-term care beds is Canada’s most extensive building program. The investment aids the long-term care system where residents experience the best possible quality of life.
"It is a privilege to represent the riding with the largest senior population in Ontario, and I’m pleased our government is taking action to provide better care for our seniors. We committed to getting more long-term care beds built, and we’re getting it done,” said Jeremy Roberts, MMP, Ottawa West-Nepean.
In addition to the new and upgraded bed, the Ontario government announced 115 projects part of the “campus of care” model focused on healthy seniors’ living. The project would integrate the long-term care home into the broader health care system.
Ontario provides long-term care homes with $868 million in additional funding to help protect the health and safety of residents, staff, and caregivers and ensure residents get the care they need and deserve. This funding will cover the extraordinary costs of COVID-19 in 2021-2022. $328 million is being used primarily to address the enhanced measures enacted in response to the Omicron variant.
Goldie Ghamari, MPP, Caleton, said, "Carleton has a large population of aging Ontarians. Building new homes and adding more beds in long-term care homes will help alleviate wait times and improve the lives of residents in current homes by upgrading and modernizing facilities."
Recognizing the diversity of our ageing population, 30 projects have proposed to serve Indigenous communities, and 39 have offered to help Ontario’s Francophone population. The province has adopted several innovative approaches to faster address long-term care capacity. The Accelerated Build pilot program is one project which aims to deliver new long-term care homes years sooner than traditional development projects. The government is also selling surplus provincial properties on the market, requiring that long-term care homes be built on these lands.
