Bill 13 explained in plain English
Time to Care Act (Long-Term Care Homes Amendment, Minimum Standard of Daily Care), 2020
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Time to Care Act mandates that long-term care homes in Ontario must provide an average of at least four hours of nursing and personal support services per resident per day.
This bill, titled the "Time to Care Act", aims to change Ontario's Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007. It proposes to set a minimum standard for the amount of direct care residents in long-term care homes receive. Specifically, it mandates that, on average, each resident should receive at least four hours per day of combined nursing and personal support services. The bill also allows for this minimum to be increased by regulation and clarifies how these hours are calculated, excluding time not spent in direct resident care. The changes would take effect six months after the bill receives Royal Assent.
- Amends the Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007 to establish a minimum standard for daily nursing and personal support services in long-term care homes.
- Requires licensees of long-term care homes to ensure an average of at least four hours per resident per day of combined nursing and personal support services are offered.
- Allows for a higher minimum average number of hours to be prescribed through regulation.
- Specifies that the calculation of these average hours excludes time paid for vacation, statutory holidays, leaves of absence, sick time, training, or other activities not involving direct patient care.
- Repeals and replaces subsection 6 (2) of the Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007, to ensure care plans are based on resident assessments and preferences, and align with the minimum daily care standard.
- Amends subsection 38 (2) of the Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007, to include the power to prescribe a higher minimum average for daily care hours.
- Sets the commencement date for the Act to six months after it receives Royal Assent.
- Residents of long-term care homes in Ontario.
- Licensees (operators) of long-term care homes in Ontario.
- Providers of nursing services in long-term care homes.
- Providers of personal support services in long-term care homes.
- Licensees of long-term care homes have a duty to ensure the average number of combined nursing and personal support services offered is at least four hours per resident per day.
- Residents have a right to receive, on average, at least four hours per day of nursing and personal support services.
- This Act comes into force six months after the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill does not specify any direct financial or tax impacts, but it may lead to increased staffing or operational costs for long-term care homes to meet the minimum care standard.
- The bill does not explicitly state penalties for non-compliance. However, it amends the Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007, which contains provisions for enforcement and compliance.
- The exact calculation method for the average hours of service, beyond excluding non-direct care time, will be prescribed by regulations.
- The bill allows for a higher minimum average number of hours to be prescribed by regulation, the details of which are not specified in the bill text.
- The bill does not specify penalties for non-compliance.
This bill amends the existing Act to introduce a minimum daily care standard for residents.
Source: Bill 13
The existing provision related to care plans based on resident assessments is removed and replaced with a new version that also requires compliance with the new minimum daily care standard.
Source: Section 1
This section is amended to add a new subsection (5) establishing the minimum average of four hours of nursing and personal support services per resident per day, and a new subsection (6) defining how these hours are calculated.
Source: Section 2
This subsection is amended to grant the power to prescribe a higher minimum average number of combined nursing and personal support services hours.
Source: Section 3
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced