(CP)
Friday, July 4, 2008

TORONTO—The “horror stories” about shocking conditions in the province’s nursing homes have prompted Ontario’s watchdog to prepare for an investigation into whether the governing Liberals are doing enough to ensure the safety and dignity of elderly residents, The Canadian Press has learned.
Ombudsman Andre Marin said his office has been doing a “pre-investigation” for the last three months to determine whether a full-blown probe is needed and he expects to make an announcement in the coming days.

“There is no doubt with an aging population and some of the horror stories and allegations you hear, the public needs to have confidence that these places are working properly and that the checks and balances that are there are actually doing their job,” Marin said in an interview.
“These are allegations that need to be assessed.”
His decision comes in the wake of an investigation by The Canadian Press which found three-quarters of the province’s nursing homes had been cited for failing to meet some of the government’s 400 standards.
These figures just add “grist to the mill,” Marin said.
“These are very serious allegations and they resonate with the kind of complaints that we’ve been hearing from people,” said Marin, adding his office gets hundreds of complaints relating to hospitals and long-term care facilities each year.
“We’ve heard allegations that these people are condemned to live a life of neglect and humiliation . . . As shocking as they are, they’re unfortunately not all that rare.”
Unlike his counterparts in Alberta, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and the Yukon, Marin doesn’t have the power to directly investigate Ontario’s publicly funded long-term care homes.
Although Marin and others have been pushing unsuccessfully for the Liberals to extend his jurisdiction to include long-term care homes, Marin said in the meantime he can look at whether the Liberal government is holding the homes to account.
“The public is really wondering,” he said. “People have expectations and it’s an area that has to have full public confidence in order to operate properly.”