Northwood report points to government cutbacks, other decisions
The union representing nurses and other health-care workers who worked at Northwood’s Halifax campus during the outbreak of COVID-19 that led to the death of 53 residents has released a report into government cuts and practices at the seniors home.
The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union members were redeployed to the facility to help with the pandemic in April.
The 24-page NSGEU report, entitled Neglecting Northwood and originally prepared for a provincial review into what happened at Northwood, highlights four key issues that the union said put staff and residents at further risk:
• Years of government funding cuts to long term care facilities without understanding the risks the cuts created.
• Infection control concerns raised by Northwood were dismissed and funding denied for proposals to eliminate double and triple occupancy in rooms.
• The use of personal protective equipment (PPEs), such as masks, were delayed even though other jurisdictions implemented the safety practices earlier.
• Not responding quickly enough once the first case of COVID was identified in the facility.
NSGEU President Jason MacLean said last week that he would not take part in the provincial review due to the secretive process.
The union has also decided not to submit the report to the Northwood Review Committee but instead released it publicly, because any submissions to the committee would not be provided to the public in any form, a news release sent out on Tuesday said.
“We fully wanted to participate, but once I realized it was a secretive nature, I had to back off, and I really had to think,” MacLean said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “We wanted to share this with government because at first we were preparing a report to go to the Department of Health and Wellness as a debrief. And then, all of a sudden, we got called for this report, and when we delved further into it, I (saw) that I would have been subject to a fine and jail time, and I thought this was the wrong way to go about it.
“What we’re looking at is wanting real change that will affect Nova Scotians. And not only will affect Nova Scotians moving forward, but other governments will learn from this, as well, because (the) long-term care system is something that is growing, it’s on the rise, and we cannot sit by any longer and watch our elderly suffer at the hands of bad decisions made by government.”
He said Nova Scotians ultimately need an open and transparent public inquiry, and with one, change will have to follow.
“When you’re looking at 53 people that passed away, that is tragedy, and a tragedy that we believe could have been avoided, but it’s not about pointing blame at anybody, it’s about finding out what happened and what went wrong. We need to have that open conversation and learn from it. Nova Scotians need to know, the families need justice, and they need to feel comfortable about their loved ones that they weren’t able to see or be with throughout this. And ultimately, we’ll be better off and have a better long-term care system.”
The report can be found online at: https:// nsgeu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/northwoodreport-nsgeu.pdf .
Heather Fairbairn, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Wellness, said in an emailed statement that the health and safety of residents and staff is top priority.
“As well, we would like to acknowledge and thank all the staff who worked so hard to deliver care in these challenging circumstances,” she said.
“Our goal with the review is to determine what happened at Northwood and address anything that will help avoid or contain future outbreaks of COVID-19. We expect that would be the NSGEU’s goal as well. The reviewers have begun their work, and doing so under the (Quality-Improvement
Information Protection) Act ensures a comprehensive review and timely results. The recommendations presented to the Minister will be made available to the families, and the rest of the public, when the review is complete.”
Opposition politicians aren’t buying it.
Nova Scotia NDP Leader Gary Burrill said the NSGEU report highlights how badly a full-fledged public inquiry into long-term care is needed.
“The evidence coming out of the report calls out very clearly that what we need is an inquiry under the Public Inquiries Act of the province,” Burrill said.
“It’s very plainly stipulated that the research, and the evidence, and the analysis, and the reasoning – that is to say, 98 per cent of the matter – is not going to be made publicly available.”
Burrill said the report makes it clear the subject is so far-reaching that it’s “entirely inappropriate to proceed in a behind-closeddoors, secret way.”
Tim Houston, leader of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives also slammed the review process as secretive.
“There’s a contradiction between Premier McNeil’s description of his government’s performance, and the proof provided by frontline workers who were in the trenches at Northwood during the pandemic,” he said in an emailed statement.
“Nova Scotians wanted an open and transparent process to get answers about Northwood. Instead, like the mass-shooting review, this government has attempted to sweep those details under the rug.”