Ontario’s providing another $100-million this year to improve support for home care clients and caregivers most in need.
A majority ($80M) will be for enhanced home care – 350,000 hours of additional nursing care in the home and 1.3-million more hours of personal support.
The remaining $20-million will see an additional 600,000 hours of respite services for caregivers and another 100,000 hours of rehabilitation.
The government says personal care workers can be called in to give family caregivers a break for periods of a day or less, and there might be a charge if the client’s not eligible for coverage as determined by the local CCAC (Community Care Access Centre).
A client could also be placed in a long-term care facility on a temporary basis when family caregivers are going to be away for more than one day but they’d have to pay $36.34 per day for room and board.
In its budget last year, the provincial government promised to increase home and community care funding by over $750-million over three years.