The Couillard government has announced new certification regulations for Quebec seniors’ homes.
Residences will now fall under four categories ranging from the least to the most health care and support offered on hand.
In January 2014, 32 people were killed after a fire broke out at a seniors’ home in l'Isle Verte.
A coroner ruled that the residence lacked sprinklers and sufficient staff to deal with the emergency.
Health Minister Gaetan Barrette said security and staffing will be vastly improved for homes in which seniors needing the greatest level of care reside.
“When it comes to elderly who are in a clinical situation where they have to have a great spectrum of services provided to them, we have increased the number of professionals that have to be on the floor 24 hours a day in all those instances,” he said.
The regulations are a softened version of certification rules imposed by the Parti Quebecois in the wake of the l'Isle Verte disaster.
Barrette said the PQ regulations were so strict that more than 200 homes across the province were at risk of shutting down.
He called this a compromise.
