Quality assurance mechanisms in long-term care homes: Evidence from abroad

Over twenty years ago, a World Health Organization report on long-term care (LTC) referred to quality of care as the ‘weak link’ and noted the need for clearer quality assurance criteria and increased regulation. This is despite LTC quality receiving attention as early as the mid-1980s and quality improvement research gaining momentum in the early 90s. Most recently, LTC quality concerns have again been brought to the fore due to the disproportionate impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on long-term care homes (LTCH).​

This paper is the first of two papers on quality with respect to LTCHs by CanCOVID. The first focuses on ‘Quality assurance mechanisms in long-term care homes: Evidence from abroad.’ The second focuses on how other jurisdictions adopted a mix of interventions to ensure quality of care in LTCHs, and what Canada can learn from these adoption processes. Thus, the first paper delves into the ‘What’ and the second delves into the ‘How.’ The second paper ‘High-Quality Long-Term Care Homes: International Approaches in Implementing Reforms’ will be published shortly.

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