Fixing Long-Term Care
Our seniors deserve high-quality care in well-staffed and safe long-term care facilities. For too long, governments have ignored our aging population, failed to make investments where it mattered; chose not to modernize laws and regulations when it was needed and neglected to train enough staff before it went from bad to worse.
Here’s what we have done so far to fix long-term care in our community:
Long-Term Care Bed Development
From 2020 to 2025, Peterborough saw a net gain of 568 new long-term care beds and the redevelopment of 296 existing beds, totaling 864 beds in new and redeveloped projects.
- Riverview Manor (November 2020): announced 132 new beds and 124 redeveloped beds.
- Peterborough Extendicare Redevelopment (June 2023): announced 84 new beds and 172 upgraded beds.
- Station Place Long-Term Care Home in Havelock (July 2023): announced 128 new beds and is set to open in 2025.
- Trent University and peopleCare Communities Long-Term Care Home (September 2025): announced 224 new beds and is set to open in 2027.
These projects are part of the broader provincial commitment to build and redevelop 58,000 long-term care beds across Ontario by 2028.
Staffing and Program Funding
Beyond capital projects, the province has provided specific funding to support staffing and specialized care in Peterborough’s long-term care homes.
- Staffing Boosts: The government has made several funding announcements to increase staffing levels, including a $3.1 million investment in October 2020 and a staffing boost in March 2022. A major multi-year investment began in November 2021 to support the goal of providing four hours of direct care per resident per day by March 2025.
- Local Priorities Fund (LPF): This fund has been a consistent source of support for specialized care. For example, in February 2024, funding was announced for specific projects at several Peterborough homes:
- Fairhaven: Specialized wound care.
- St. Joseph’s: Bariatric and dementia care.
- Extendicare Lakefield and Peterborough and St. Joseph’s at Fleming also received funding.
- COVID-19 Funding: Specific funding was allocated in 2021 to help long-term care homes manage the costs and impacts of the pandemic.
Investing $25 million in Extendicare Peterborough and Lakefield, Fairhaven, Riverview Manor, and St. Joseph’s at Fleming. This funding is permanent and annualized; earmarked for exclusive use to hire hundreds of more nurses, personal support workers, and physiotherapists locally;
Strengthened enforcement and penalties for long-term care homes who break the law or neglect resident care;
Approved the capital to train and hire 27,000 new nurses and personal support workers within the system and;
Implemented a comprehensive staffing plan to enhance professional development, increase education and training, and improve working conditions for staff in long-term care.
Legislation to offer permanent wage increases for personal support workers in community and institutional settings.