Admission ban on beleaguered Bruce County nursing home lifted

Admissions reopen at Walkerton long-term care home After a provincial report halted admissions, Brucelea Haven is finally able to accept patients again. CTV London's Scott Miller has details.

Wingham, Ont. — An eight-month ban on admissions to the Brucelea Haven Long Term Care Home in Walkerton, Ont. is over.

A scathing Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care report last year suggested 36 months of staffing shortages at the 144-bed facility led to residents not being bathed, medication being late or not administered at all, along with numerous falls and injuries.

Worse yet, the report said staffing shortages were a contributing factor in the deaths of two residents.

Admissions were halted to the Bruce County-run home by the ministry on July 12, 2019 until 31 “compliance” issues were resolved.

Since then, three Bruce County senior managers were relieved of their positions for the handling of Brucelea Haven and a private long-term care home management team was brought in to manage the facility.

As of last week, all of the issues have been rectified to the satisfaction of the ministry, and admissions can now resume to the long-term care home.

Chris Peabody is the chair of Bruce County’s Homes Committee. He called the problems at Brucelea Haven “a crisis” back in July.

Now he’s relieved improvements have finally been made.

“It was a terrible time. Brucelea Haven was ranked as possibly the worst nursing homes in Ontario. So we’ve gone from one of the worst to one of the best,” says Peabody, who is also the mayor of Brockton, where Brucelea Haven is located.

Despite all the problems at Brucelea Haven, there is currently a waiting list to get into the long-term care home. Admissions should start shortly.