Before it's too late

Meanwhile, home care and long-term care services have not compensated for the reduction in acute care hospital beds and the closure of chronic care, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals. [...] Promoting care as a relationship requires adequate staff and an appropriate staff mix Staffng levels and staff mix are important for quality of care and the safety of both seniors and care providers. [...] For the health of our seniors, there is a particular need for nurses, doctors and other staff to receive more education about the care of the elderly. [...] This plan should include the following elements: • Equity and inclusivity across Canada with access based on need; • National standards for safe, quality patient care, especially with respect to staffng and the enforcement of minimum staffng; • The creation of a human resources strategy for the long-term care and home care sectors, which addresses working conditions, training and discrepancies in [...] Given these complex and ongoing needs, the current health system focused on acute, episodic care can fail to provide the necessary coordination and continuity to keep seniors healthy and to respond to their health care needs in an effective and timely manner, resulting in too many seniors falling through the cracks.9.