Fullerton Responds to Long-Term Care Report
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CTV News Channel to discuss Fullerton's response to the long-term care report.
Commission probing long-term care says for-profit companies should no longer be in charge of care
The commissioners were, however, careful not to paint all for-profit long-term care operators with the same brush. They make a distinction between “mission-focused” owners and those who are “profit-focused” – including real estate investment trusts, or REITs, and other entities listed on a public stock exchange.
“I thought the recommendation was quite clever,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA. “It might be a path forward so that we actually get better quality care when we don’t force for-profit providers to do what they don’t want to do and, frankly, what some of them can’t do very well.”
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Geriatric specialist in Ontario says long-term care residents owed apology
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, says the long-term care system has long been neglected in the province. 'I don't necessarily hear a response ... from the government that makes me feel things are going to dramatically change tomorrow,' he said.
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Long-term care minister dodges questions in 1st press conference since independent report
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, told CBC News that Fullerton's response didn't instill confidence that the province is going to make the systemic changes necessary to avoid a future catastrophe.
"I'm unhappy because we have a long-term care system that's been long neglected and I don't necessarily hear a response to this report from the government that is going to make me feel like things are going to dramatically change tomorrow," Dr. Sinha said.
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In a Ford government without shame, long-term-care minister offers more disgrace under pressure
“If you actually read the staffing plan, they only plan to improve the staffing plan (towards four hours of care per day) by 15 minutes per day before the election in 2022,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA. “That final hour of staffing will be between 2022 and 2025 … you don’t need to take four years to get us to where we need to be.
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Ontario can’t ‘fix’ long-term care. It needs to start over
I’ve written before about Welsh’s book, “Happily Ever Older: Revolutionary Approaches to Long-Term Care,” which details the Butterfly pilot program in Peel’s long-term-care facilities, and innovations in nursing home care across the continent and in Europe. The book quotes from experts such as Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, who is leading a new advisory group on enduring national standards for long-term care — building facilities smarter and making staff kinder.
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‘Too slow, too late’: Ford gov. received months of warnings about long-term care before second wave
“If you want to talk about high yield things that could have been done, it would have been to secure staffing, shore up infection prevention and control, and it would have been to de-crowd homes,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA. “We failed to act meaningfully on either of those three issues.”
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‘Deadly’ delays. Lack of leadership. Advice ignored. Report exposes deep flaws in Ontario’s handling of COVID-19 crisis in long-term care
“We actually took a lot of systemic actions and inactions that allowed us to not only be set up for failure,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA, “but then repeatedly failed throughout the pandemic because we weren’t fixing or addressing issues about staffing and proper infection prevention and control.
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Long term care: Are things any better?
Geriatrician Dr. Nathan Stall, Assistant Scientific Director for the COVID 19 Science Advisory Table and Associate Fellow at the NIA, says homes are safer now than a year ago because of vaccines. But callers say staff are exhausted and caring for too many residents.
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Resident isolation, staffing remain significant concerns in Ontario long-term care centres
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, said those restrictions, which included limiting visits from family members, had profound mental health effects on residents, and included the worsening of loneliness, social isolation, depression and dementia.
Now, with almost every resident vaccinated, and the risks of outbreaks significantly declined, Sinha said the burden of the restrictions are probably doing more harm than good.
"And I think a lot of people are losing hope because we're not re-opening homes in the way we should."
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Ontario will transfer of hospital patients to LTCs without consent
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined Kelly to discuss transferring COVID-19 patients in to long-term care homes.
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Family of 99-year-old Holocaust survivor homebound in Toronto pleads for COVID-19 vaccine
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, led advocacy for seniors over the age of 70 to be prioritized for vaccinations in phase one. He told Global News he feels terrible for seniors like Frieda who are still waiting to be vaccinated.
He said the issue is not only the supply of the Moderna vaccination, which is best suited to in-home vaccinations since it travels well, but also a lack of vaccinations.
Sinha said roughly 6,000 seniors in Toronto have been registered for in-home COVID-19 vaccinations. But Toronto Public Health reported only around 2,300 people have gotten a shot.
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COVID-19 patients can now be transferred into long-term care homes without consent
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CTV Your Morning to discuss his thoughts on the province's new plan of transferring COVID-19 patients in to long-term care homes.
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Ontario ‘completely ignored and bulldozed’ problems in long-term care: former inspector
Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, said that many provincial inspections of homes that experienced the worst outbreaks showed “gross deficiencies.” He questions why more action wasn’t taken to fix the problems prior to the pandemic.
“There’s no real follow up to ensure that the deficiencies have been corrected. And there’s also no penalty or recourse for failing to do so,” Dr. Stall said.
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The Ford government ‘didn’t start the fire’ but spread lots of gasoline around
“I know it’s not only her by any means who let community spread get out of control, but it got out of control,” says Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, and a member of the province’s independent volunteer science table. “OK, yes, the long-term-care sector had many deficiencies that were never addressed; no, you did not manufacture COVID-19. But you also didn’t stop the fire from burning down the house.
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Ontario's long-term care sector wasn't ready or equipped for COVID-19: report
Another report slams Ontario's response to COVID-19 in its long-term care homes. What needs to be done to change the system? Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, weighs in.
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Ontario details plan for 3 paid sick days after a year of mounting pressure
Following the announcement, Ontario's Science Advisory Table responded with a brief that outlined the benefits of an effective sick pay program.
"Ontario workers need 10 days of adequate #PaidSickLeave that is easily accessible, immediately paid and supports them in following all public health measures," Dr. Nathan Stall, a member of the table, tweeted on Wednesday.
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"There needs to be a real systemic response"
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA and Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, joined CTV News to discuss the Ontario Auditor General's report on the COVID-19 response in long term care homes.
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Ontario largely ignored long-term care as COVID-19 crisis began, internal documents reveal
Long-term care homes "were left totally unprotected," said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA. "They were last in line to get personal protective equipment, they had insufficient infection prevention and control procedures, and they were largely excluded from provincial planning," he said in an interview Tuesday. "Everything was focused on acute care and critical care, often to the exclusion of long-term care."
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Ottawa-designed vaccine system praised in Nova Scotia, envied in 'chaotic' Ontario
That is not the case in Nova Scotia. The system co-designed by CANImmunize and the government has just one site, whether vaccines are given at pharmacies, clinics or elsewhere.
The system has drawn attention from Ontario and elsewhere. “For people in Ontario who might be interested, CANImmunize built the Nova Scotia vaccination system that is working flawlessly,” tweeted Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA and member of the province’s science advisory table.