With the Liberals fighting for their lives in Ontario, Long-Term Care and Home-Based Health Care in general have become hot button political topics.

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, it’s always interesting to know the platforms and positions that are being pushed by the opposition parties.

It’s clear that both parties agree on one thing: change.

(Both quotes are from early to mid February 2013)

First off, a selection from a white paper put forth by the Ontario PC Party:

If a senior needs more frequent visits from a personal support worker, but doesn’t need help with meal preparation, she and her family should have the flexibility to make sure the available home-care money is spent in the best possible way…

That includes allowing them to opt out of the government-provided services currently organized by CCACs and to use the equivalent money to choose another qualified home-care provider.

Where possible, it also means providing support to family members who choose to work part time or to take time off work to provide care for a relative, instead of relying on government-funded home-care workers to provide that care.

Andrea Horwath of the Ontario NDP Party:

Ontarians have told us they want reliable and consistent home care. A 5 day home care guarantee would ensure that Ontarians receive home care five (5) days after being approved. We will work with individual Community Care Access Centers (CCACs) to see what they need to clear the roughly 6100 people across the province currently waiting for home care services. Today, 3,300 Ontarians are waiting for care by a personal support worker and an additional 2,800 Ontarians are waiting for service by therapists.

An investment of $30 million a year would allow CCACs to eliminate waitlists and add capacity to the system so that all Ontarians who need home care receive it within 5 days. New Democrats have a plan to generate $3.5 million for this program by putting a hard cap on hospital CEO salaries. An additional $27 million will be found through standardizing procurement policies and streamlining administration at Ontario?s Local Health Integration Networks and Community Care access Centers (CCACs).

Of course budgets will come into play for both parties ideas; yet any ideas and positions put forth are a step in the right direction or will at least create a conversation around home-based care reform in the province of Ontario.