Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman, who recentlyoffered to wear an adult diaper to better understand nursing home residents’ experiences,has approved about $100 million (U.S) in funds to improve nursing home quality in hisprovince.

The money, which will be disbursed over three years, willpay for an additional 4,500 personal support workers and nurses. It will alsoincrease the amount of personal care time for each patient to three hours,according to Smitherman.

The Ontario nursing home industry, however, does notbelieve that these funds will significantly increase the amount of personalcare time. It claims that the administration’s calculations include funding forvacationing staff and social workers that don’t provide hands-on care.