Budget cuts coming to Kingston-area long-term care homes

The Ontario government has announced cuts of more than $100,000 from Napanee’s John M. Parrott Centre’s operating grant.

As a result, the area’s mayor says this means patient care at the long-term care home will be directly impacted.

“It’s based on what they call the case mix index,” says Rick Bresee, mayor of Loyalist Township.

“So the result of that is a cut of $2.41 per resident per day, which results in about a $107,000 reduction in the funding from the province to the John M. Parrot Centre.”

The case mix index is a formula that determines how much funding goes into each long-term care home based on the year before.

With such an unusual year in 2020, Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith says he understands that the formula doesn’t necessarily fit this year’s needs.

“I know it’s been categorized as a cut, it’s a funding formula that changes this case mix index,” says Smith. “It’s not a reflection of who is in the home at the time, and it’s a funding formula that hasn’t worked for a long time.”

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Still, Bresee is disappointed by the change in funding — especially after the John M. Parrot Centre worked so hard to contain COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic.

“After all that hard work keeping up with all of the regulations, to be faced with another budget cut, is really challenging and upsetting,” says Bresee.

Bresee says this change will affect the residents of the county as well.

“The biggest fear we have is that this will be put back on the taxpayers of the county,” he adds. “If that goes through — and when that goes through — it’ll be about $3.5 million, and we’re afraid at this point that it will be on the backs of the taxpayers of Lennox & Addington.”

Other homes in the area will also be affected by the funding changes this year.

Hastings Manor in Belleville and Centennial Manor in Bancroft are among those that will be affected by the budget readjustment.