At least two staff members have been fired from local nursing homes after allegations of abuse at the facilities.

The news comes on the heels of an investigation done by a Toronto newspaper that found hundreds of cases of neglect and abuse at Ontario facilities.

That included at least 47 complaints at seven nursing homes in southwestern Ontario, one in Brantford, one in Cambridge, three in Kitchener and two in Guelph, where staff members were fired.

At St. Joseph's Health Centre in Guelph, a staff member was suspended after one complaint and then fired after a second from the same resident.

President Marianne Walker says "It saddens me and it's unfortunate that when these situations happen, and I just want to assure the public and the people we serve that we do take these situations seriously."

The second staff dismissal happened at The Village of Riverside Glen facility. Reports cite two cases of abuse, including physical, but no details are being released.

Company CEO Bob Kallonen says "It's not uncommon for a resident say for example to say someone's not responding to my call bell in a timely fashion, and that, by definition under ministry guidelines, is abuse."

He adds that two staff were disciplined and one was fired.

In Kitchener, the head of the A.R. Goudie Eventide Home, will only say that the issues have been dealt with.

Executive director Dan Oettinger says "The initial incident had to do with one staff member's failure to provide wheelchair transportation to a resident upon request."

The other two homes in Kitchener named, Trinity Village Care Centre and Lanark Heights Long-Term Care Centre, did not return calls from CTV News.

Meanwhile in Cambridge, Stirling Heights released a statement saying they reported an allegation of harm but police and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care found nothing wrong.

Finally at the Leisureworld Caregiving Centre in Brantford the issue was that residents were being bathed enough, often due to staffing issues. Officials there say that issue has now been dealt with.

Health Minister Deb Matthews was horrified and disappointed by the stories she heard and called a meeting with industry representatives Friday morning.

A task force is now being created to deal with this and other issues in long-term care facilities.