An organization representing Ontario home-care providers says the same factors leading to staffing shortages throughout the workforce have left the already beleaguered sector in crisis.
Home Care Ontario says that before the COVID-19 pandemic, providers fulfilled requests for care 95 per cent of the time.
As of Dec. 31, 2021, the agency says, that number had dropped to just 56 per cent.
Home Care Ontario says some 4,000 nurses have left the home-care sector since the onset of the pandemic.
It says the situation is even more dire given the high number of staff absences as workers are exposed to or infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The organization says the shortage is also putting added strain on Ontario's hospital system, as the latest numbers from the province show 582 patients would be eligible to leave hospital with publicly funded home care, were the resources available.