Workplace injuries cost millions yearly

Long-term care workers demand safer work environment, says Jennifer Lyle.

The B.C. government’s plan to spend $500 million from Ottawa over the next four years to improve seniors’ care, with a significant amount for home care, comes at a critical time.

By 2031, almost one in four people in B.C. will be over 65 .

Today, as we need caregivers looking after our seniors more than ever, they are burning out and being injured on the job at unsustainable levels.

Systemic improvements are urgently needed on care in nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living units and private family residences to meet current and growing demands.

More Canadians are taking on the caregiver role for aging family members. When you combine the demands of looking after an elderly and ill relative with those of paid work and raising children, it is no wonder that many are burning out.

If family caregivers step away because of stress, more pressure will be placed on health-care workers in the long-term care sector.

Injury rates in this growing sector are over four times the average of any other in B.C.

Along with regular incidents of overexertion, workplace violence is one of the top causes of injury for seniors’ care providers.

A study of violence in seniors’ care found that 90 per cent of Canada’s front line care workers experienced physical violence from residents or their relatives and 43 per cent reported physical violence on a daily basis.

With rates of dementia rising, caregivers are facing constant threats to their physical and mental health.

These high rates of preventable workplace injuries are costing the health system millions and contributing to a growing caregiver shortage.

In 2015, Canada’s longterm care sector lost an estimated 650,000 workdays to injuries — resulting in over $96 million in costs to a system in desperate need of resources.

As an organization representing Canada’s health-care sector, including seniors’ care providers across the country, the National Alliance for Safety and Health in Healthcare is ready to collaborate with key stakeholders to better protect healthcare workers, improve the quality of elder care and help offset rising health-care costs associated with our aging society.

By joining forces with other interested parties to focus the new federal funding where it can have the biggest effect, we can make significant improvements in long-term care in B.C. and across the country that will ensure care aides can spend more time with seniors than recovering from injuries.

In addition to increasing care hours and creating thousands of new health-care jobs, a new national strategy could include targeted spending on much-needed medical equipment and ongoing training for caregivers to improve the quality of dementia care and prevent workplace injuries.

Combined, these efforts would help attract and retain a high-quality workforce and reduce costs related to workplace injury claims.