Mulcair to expand home care to support 41,000 more seniors

NDP plan will free up hospital beds and reduce overcrowding in emergency rooms

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair focused on seniors care as he announced the first planks in his comprehensive plan to improve health care and reverse the damage done by years of Liberal and Conservative neglect.

“Caring for an aging population is one of the significant challenges Canada’s next Prime Minister will face,” said Mulcair. “We will make a major investment in expanding home care to allow more seniors to stay in their homes longer, freeing up beds and reducing overcrowding at hospitals.”

An NDP government will provide the long-term stable funding provinces and territories need to deliver quality health care and seniors' care. Working with the provinces and territories we will:

• Invest in home care for an additional 41,000 seniors that offers patient-focused care from their own homes, by the end of our first mandate;
• Help provinces build 5,000 more nursing home beds;
• Improve access to palliative care and end-of-life care for Canadians’ loved ones.

“The challenges in health and seniors' care started with the Liberals and were made worse during Stephen Harper’s lost decade,” said Mulcair. “The NDP will invest in health care and balance the budget, by asking Canada’s biggest corporations to pay a fair share. Justin Trudeau won’t do that.”

Mulcair said the seniors care initiative is the first set of planks in his plan to bring in the next era of quality, affordable and available health care for all Canadians. He will release additional details of his health care plan in the days ahead and provide a full costing prior to Thursday’s debate