Ontario government oversight of long-term care homes 'largely collapsed' during pandemic, ombudsman finds

Ontario’s ombudsman will release the findings of an investigation on Thursday into the government’s oversight of long-term care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Long-Term Care’s oversight mechanisms “largely collapsed” when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, with on-site inspections of long-term care homes grinding to a halt for nearly two months during the first wave of the pandemic, according to an investigation by Ontario’s ombudsman.

The report by Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé, which was released Thursday, focuses on the Ministry of Long-Term Care’s inspections-related activity at homes during the initial stages of the pandemic. It found that over a seven-week period during the initial wave of the pandemic, the ministry’s inspections branch “simply stopped conducting on-site inspections.”

In Hamilton, no on-site inspections occurred for three straight months.

“What we uncovered was an oversight system that was strained before the pandemic, and proved to be wholly incapable and unprepared to handle the additional stresses posed by COVID-19,” the report read.

In one case reviewed by the ombudsman’s office, one man complained to the Ministry four times between April 6 and May 5, 2020 about “disturbing conditions” in his mother’s long-term care home.

“None of his concerns were inspected until October 2020, many months after his mother had already died from COVID. In total, 53 residents died at that same long-term care home during the first wave,” the report continued.

In April 2020, the report notes, a woman complained to the ministry about the conditions at her parents’ long-term care home, indicating that it was “severely” short-staffed and residents were not being cleaned, fed, or given their medications. One of the woman’s parents had died of COVID-19 and the other was sick with the virus, the report read.