BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS NEEDED
Long-term care (LTC) homes in Nova Scotia are largely governed by a business logic that prioritizes profitability and efficiency, leaving less time for person-centered care.
During a recent panel entitled, “Care in the time of corona: The neoliberal care home,” Mary-dan Johnston, a research representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, expressed that Canada’s failure to bring LTC under the Health Care Act leaves just enough space for a greedy industry to flourish.
Over the last several years there has been a shift in Nova Scotia LTC homes towards privatization. Non-profit LTC homes are often underfunded, leaving them to make decisions based on cost which takes away from their ability to provide person-centered care. LTC nurses are given an inadequate amount of time to complete tasks which does not allow for a lot of valuable one-on-one time with residents. These expectations placed on staff are the symptom of a neo-liberal model that affect LTC homes ability to handle Covid-19.
On April 26, Premier Stephen Mcneil stated that 10 Nova Scotia nursing homes had cases of Covid-19. There were 24 Covid-19 related deaths: with the majority linked to LTC homes. It is important to acknowledge that working conditions directly impact conditions of care and the two cannot be addressed as separate issues. Well before Covid-19, nursing home unions had been fighting for increased funding to improve staffing levels. These staff levels have now been exacerbated by Covid-19.
A 2011 study on structural violence in long-term residential care conducted by Albert Banerjee, an assistant professor at St. Thomas University, compared Canadian nursing homes to ones in Scandinavia. Staff in Canadian LTC homes were seven times more likely to experience violence. This is due to Canada having low staffing levels and short staffing. Short staffing is when a staff member calls in sick but is not replaced. The subsequent lack of personcentered care results in more violence from residents.
During the panel, Banerjee described structural violence as occurring when conditions for violence are set up in advance due to structures such as neoliberalism. Covid-19’s affect on nursing homes is a form of structural violence that could have been avoidable. The risk of the spread of Covid-19 in nursing homes was structured prior to the virus, through neo-liberal policy decisions that have localized effects on nursing home residents and staff.
While the privatization of nursing homes and larger structural issues, such as neoliberalism, need to be addressed this change will not happen over night. It is crucial that the government listens to these unions. In February, CUPE’S LTC committee launched an online campaign which asks that several changes be made to publicly funded LTC facilities to increase staffing levels.
Premier Mcneil refuses to consider an increase in funding to LTC homes after the crisis, expressing that now is not the time for these conversations. Now is the perfect time. Covid19 has shined a light on structural issues in LTC and it is up to us to seize this opportunity. Please act by writing your MLA and beg for more government funding to increase staffing in nursing homes.
Sarah-kate Mackinnon
Sydney