Every day, hundreds of thousands of people rely on Ontario’s home care system.
These people are our grandparents, parents, our children, our friends, and our neighbours. They all rely on the support of frontline home care staff to keep them healthy, independent, and out of the hospital. And it all happens in the privacy of their own homes.
Home care happens behind closed doors, in people’s homes, so it often goes unnoticed. But if you look closely around your neighbourhood, home care staff are busy delivering every type of care. It helps seniors live at home with the privacy and dignity they deserve. Home care helps patients leave the hospital and recover from operations and it helps children receive the health supports needed to succeed in school.
What is home care?
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Home Care is palliative care that gives patients and families comfort during the end-of-life.
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Home Care is caregiver support that lets the parents of a sick child get a good night’s sleep.
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Home Care is home oxygen delivery that allows those with respiratory conditions to never have to worry about running out of breathe.
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Home Care is serious injury care and wound care that helps people recover at home, not in a hospital or an institution.
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Home Care is meal prep and homemaking services that allows those recovering from surgery, those living with chronic conditions, or seniors to remain independent and at home, where they want to be.
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Home Care is home delivery of medical equipment and pharmaceutical medicines.
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Home Care is nursing care that comes to you, because that’s where you are most comfortable.
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Home Care is social work, including outreach to vulnerable and underserved populations such as the homeless.
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Home Care is personal care, including check-ups and diagnostics that save people the trouble of always needing to go to the doctor or hospital
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Home Care is rehabilitation services that allow people to go home from the hospital to recover, rather than having to recover in a long-term care institution.
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Home Care is speech therapy, nutritional support or counselling, which can be delivered in person or remotely, but always puts a patient first by letting them stay safe and healthy at home.
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Home Care is occupational therapy as well as physical therapy that supports people to do the things that are important to them, and helps patients recovering at home.
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Home Care is chemotherapy, IV drug therapy, and other critical health care services that patients prefer to receive at home.
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Home Care is respiratory therapy that helps thousands of Ontarians breathe easy and get back to the things they love in life.
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Home Care is mobility assistance that lets people remain at home, not in long-term care.
Ontario’s home care system is a key part of Ontario’s health care system.
But it happens behind the closed doors of patients’ own homes and dwellings. That makes it easier for policymakers to ignore and look away from peoples’ needs. As a result, government has paid front-line staff in other parts of the health system more and more, and wages in home care have been largely ignored. This trend was accelerated during the pandemic, and thousands of front-line staff have left the home care system for better paying jobs, leaving people without the home care they need.
Without investments to increase wages for staff in home care, people won’t be able to recover and stay healthy at home. Hospitals and long-term care homes will always have growing wait lists. By rebuilding the home care workforce, Ontario can reduce wait lists in long-term care, create capacity in hospitals, and allow thousands more people to receive care at home, where they want to be.
Ontario’s home care system is in crisis. People who need home care are waiting longer to get it. Those already receiving it are getting less care than they need. Skilled staff are leaving the sector altogether.
Ontarians of all ages deserve better, and it’s time we demanded better.
Home care supports us; it’s time to support home care.
Who Provides this Care?
Depending on the support required, your frontline care team could include personal support workers (PSWs), nurses, pharmacists, home respiratory therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, dietitians, social workers, or other frontline health care heroes.
Home Care makes financial sense
Compared to the cost of hospital or long-term care, home care is far more affordable for government. The average daily cost of a patient in a hospital or other acute care setting is $730. The average daily cost of a patient in home care is $103.
More investments for staffing in home care will result in fewer visits to hospital and fewer seniors requiring long-term care. That means more money for government to increase the quality of health care in Ontario across the board. Home care just makes sense.
Ontario Must Bring Care Home
