Hamilton , Haldimand, Niagara and Brant were among the hardest hit by a drastic shortage of vital home-care supplies that Ontario’s patient ombudsman says could have been prevented.

More than 200 incidents of delayed, missing, incorrect or bad quality supplies were reported to Ontario Health atHome late last year from Hamilton and the surrounding areas, concluded an investigation by ombudsman Craig Thompson.

The cause of the crisis was found to be a new system for procuring and distributing home-care supplies that was insufficiently planned and too quickly implemented on Sept. 24, 2024.

The ombudsman’s report released one year — to the day — after the supply crisis started found that the new vendor responsible for providing medical supplies to some of this area’s most vulnerable

See Full Page