With the provincial election campaign underway, promises are coming thick and fast as parties vie for voters’ attention.
Liberal leader Brian Gallant made further commitments on healthcare at a campaign stop in Saint-Louis-de-Kent Sunday.
“We have heard you over the last few months and years, and that is why I am pleased to announce a reelected Liberal government will increase the hours of care from 3.1 to 3.5 hours by 2026,” says Gallant.
He said they will phase it in gradually, with an increase to 3.3 hours per client by 2022, with the full increase taking effect four years later.
Gallant acknowledges that will require hiring more staff, and “with your help we will make sure that we recruit more employees to help us deliver the best care possible to seniors in our province, and we know one of the first things we need to do is improve the environment in which these people work in our nursing homes.”
He says they will develop a comprehensive plan to increase recruitment as part of this pledge to increase hours of care.
However, a pilot project in 2010 under Liberal Premier Shawn Graham about this kind of increase resulted in 14 recommendations, cautioning that increasing hours of care was only one facet of a comprehensive approach needed to improve quality of life for nursing home residents.
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(Photo Credit: submitted.)