Ontarians are less comfortable with the prospect of a family member in a nursing home than residents of other provinces according to an August Vector Poll.
Only 20 per cent said they would feel “very comfortable” with the idea compared to 28 per cent in Quebec and 30 per cent in the Maritimes.
Ontario has the highest percentage of for-profit nursing home beds in Canada.
Across Canada about one in three said they were either “not too comfortable” or “not at all comfortable with the idea.”
Not surprisingly, wealthy households were less likely to be concerned than families with yearly incomes below $40,000, reminding us that we already have two-tier health care when it comes to the quality of nursing home care.
Earlier this year we raised the alarm about too few nursing home inspectors for Ontario’s 630 public nursing homes. Most nursing homes in Ontario have not received a detailed inspector since 2009.
About three out of four Ontarians told Vector that inspections should be made stricter. Across Canada, even 71 per cent of Conservative voters told the pollsters they saw a need for more stepped up inspection despite their party’s preference for fewer government services.
Given concerns about the quality of nursing home care, Ontarians were evenly split on whether the government should invest more money in long-term care beds or increase tax breaks to renovate homes to care for a relative.
The Vector poll was taken August 8-20 nationally with 1,102 adults participating. The Ontario segment is a sample of 500 – sample error would be 4.4 percentage points up or down. The Vector Poll is commissioned by a coalition of labour organizations including OPSEU.
OPSEU Diablogue 