Earlier this month, Ontario’s Patient Ombudsman released a special report, Honouring the voices and experiences of Long-Term Care Home residents, caregivers and staff during the first wave of COVID-19 in Ontario (the "Report"), calling for major changes to prevent further tragedies in the Province's Long-Term Care sector during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the Report’s foreword, Cathy Fook remarks: “No one in Ontario’s healthcare system wants a repeat of the scenarios we faced in the spring of 2020. This will take strong leadership locally and provincially, and intense collaboration amongst different health providers and different levels of government.”
The Report includes suggestions such as enhancing whistleblower protections, improving communications, overhauling the visitation system, and recommends that healthcare providers have "backstops" and contingency plans in place.
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