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One aspect of #LTCjustice that has gone somewhat under the radar is the likelihood that we have an unspoken policy that under no circumstances will any Ontario long-term care facility be evacuated (and the residents transferred to hospital) in the current phase of the pandemic 1/
On May 15, I was a member of a large group of health care professionals who helped admit 52 residents of the Rosslyn Retirement Residence to two Hamilton hospitals, as a result of an uncontrolled outbreak in that facility. 2/
The decision to evacuate that building was a correct one. I don't recall any such decision being made in any LTC facility during the current wave, despite the many well-documented uncontrolled outbreaks. 3/
I find it hard to believe that the decisions not to evacuate LTCs have been made entirely at a local level. It seems extremely likely that direction has come from the MOHLTC, or Ontario Health, or some other central entity. 4/
This is not a criticism of any individual decision regarding any specific home. My concern is regarding provincial policy, and particularly regarding possible unspoken provincial policy. 5/
I completely agree with the principle of trying to care for people with Covid-19 in their homes (including LTC) as much as is safe. That's not the issue here. 6/
My concern is that there has been a central decision not to evacuate homes in crisis. 7/
And that this decision is deeply cynical: it was motivated by a desire to keep hospital numbers down and avoid making the difficult (and expensive) decisions that were necessary to manage the pandemic. 8/
I have no proof of this theory, but the alternative hypothesis (that all of these outbreak-specific decisions were made locally, without political influence) seems very implausible. 9/
