Gov’t criticized for changes to care-home regulations
Sufficient staff levels vital to care
REGINA — The NDP Opposition used the first question period of the fall legislative sitting to criticize the Sask. Party government for changing minimum standards for Saskatchewan care homes.
The health minister said the goal is personalized services.
The government changed regulations in 2011 to remove a requirement that care homes offer a minimum of two hours of staff time per day per resident, and removed a reference to having sufficient staff, NDP Leader Cam Broten said.
“I’ve sat in countless meetings with family members, with health care workers who have told me that over the last few years, the level of care has been getting worse for seniors here in Saskatchewan,” Broten told reporters in Regina following question period Thursday.
“And it’s no wonder it’s been getting worse when we see that this government has eliminated any sort of minimum standard with respect to how many hours of care each resident would have. That’s obviously a huge part of the concern. When we see that they’ve removed any reference to sufficient staffing levels, that is a huge concern.”
Broten pointed to documents from one health region that outlined for care home workers which duties are priorities and which are discretionary during periods of short staffing. “Nonessential bathing” is among the discretionary duties listed.
“And now that we see when there are health region managers actually telling health care workers that things like baths are discretionary, well, it’s no wonder the level of care is suffering,” Broten said.
Health Minister Dustin Duncan told reporters the regulations that were changed dated back to the 1960s and didn’t speak to the care needs of the present day. He also said personalizing care for each resident is more responsive to a variety of needs.
“We have 156 facilities with 8,700 residents who all have different needs,” Duncan said. “The way that we’re moving is towards individualizing the care … In fact, most of our residents would have more care than would have been in the standards.”
Duncan acknowledged there are “challenges” in the system — as was indicated in a report on care homes that he released earlier this year — but said he thinks problems would have ex isted even with the former minimum standards in place.
“What we are trying to achieve is trying to deal with some of those issues that did come up this spring and this summer, and we know that the $10 million urgent action fund isn’t going to get to all those issues, but it’s a start,” he said, noting government is also looking at the model of care delivery for the future.
“What we have been doing in Saskatchewan, and what all provinces have been doing, clearly is not working for all of our residents, but we’ve never had that conversation,” Duncan said. “We have not really changed the model of care, even though the needs of our residents have changed dramatically in 20 or 30 years.”
“IT’S NO WONDER IT’S BEEN GETTING WORSE.”
CAM BROTEN
Duncan said other initiatives introduced by the government in response to the report on care homes — including direct family surveys, regular CEO tours and efforts with front-line staff — will provide information to help develop the necessary changes to the system.
Broten said that he wasn’t satisfied with the answers provided by the health minister.
“Absolutely care should be customized to every resident, but we need a basic minimum standard of care … Individualized care is important, but we need a base level of care, and this government’s been moving in the wrong direction,” he said.