Message from the Chair

The following is the 2022 Annual Report of the Geriatric and Long-Term Care Review Committee (GLTCRC).  The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to delays in assembling our committee reviews that form the basis of our committee reports.

The GLTCRC was established in 1989 and consists of members who are respected practitioners in the fields of geriatrics, family medicine, psychiatry, nursing, pharmacology, emergency medicine and services to seniors.

The Office of the Chief Coroner (OCC), through the GLTCRC, has made it a policy to review all homicides involving residents of long-term care or retirement homes. The GLTCRC also reviews cases where systemic issues may be present or where significant concerns have been identified by the family, investigating coroner or Regional Supervising Coroner. 

Reviews conducted by the GLTCRC include a comprehensive and thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the death and if appropriate, the development of recommendations aimed towards the prevention of future deaths.  In 2022, the GLTCRC reviewed 13 cases, involving 13 deaths, and generated 49 recommendations.

Reviews and recommendations prepared by the GLTCRC are widely distributed to service and long-term care providers and other relevant agencies and organizations throughout the province. Our role is to provide information to relevant organizations that will subsequently lead to improvements in processes, policies, and initiatives, with the goal of preventing further deaths in similar circumstances.

It is an honour to participate in the work of the GLTCRC and I am grateful for the commitment of its members to the people of Ontario. Readers who wish to obtain the redacted narrative reports can do so by contacting the OCC at: occ.inquiries@ontario.ca.

Dr. Roger Skinner
Regional Supervising Coroner, Modernization
Chair, Geriatric and Long -Term Care Review Committee