Long-Term Care Staffing Policies Pre-COVID-19 and Pandemic Responses: A Case Comparison of Ontario and British Columbia

Patrick B. Patterson, Tessa Weinberg, Sarah McRae, Candice Pollack and Daniel Dutton

Canadian Public Policy, 2023, vol. 49, issue 1, 94-113

Abstract: By late May 2020, COVID-19 cases among long-term care (LTC) residents in Ontario constituted 5,157 of the province's 28,499 cases. In British Columbia (B.C.), there were 339 cases among LTC residents compared with a provincial total of 2,562 cases. While the LTC sectors in these two provinces have some differences, this article reviews their pre-pandemic LTC staffing policies and compares their staffing-related COVID-19 prevention measures in 2020. Ontario's policies before 2020 corresponded with lower staff-to-patient ratios than B.C., which may have constrained Ontario's pandemic responses. Implementation of standards or guidelines and changes to funding could help achieve LTC sector staffing resiliency.

Keywords: long-term care; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; health human resources; staffing policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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