Standards for senior’s care unmet: Saskatchewan Ombudsman

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“By making their concerns public they are helping other families and other long term care residents receive better care and better information about that care. That is what we think will be the result if the government follows our recommendations,” McFadyen explained in her report.
 
Health Minister Dustin Duncan asked the Ombudsman to investigate the matter on Nov. 19, 2014. McFadyen revealed her findings with a total of 19 recommendations.
 
“In Margaret’s case we looked at her care needs and we found that Santa Maria was not meeting the standards of care in several areas,” she admitted.
 
She found staff wasn’t effectively managing Warholm’s pain and didn’t ensure her skin was free of bedsores. Information wasn’t accurately recorded in her chart, the policy was unclear regarding physically transferring a resident and guidelines weren’t met to ensure she received adequate nutrition and fluids.
 
“We don’t think this is onerous to be monitoring and to making sure the standards are in place. These standards were put in place for a reason, to make sure people were safe and clean and properly fed and they’re not being met, so they have to take steps to make sure they are being met,” she explained.

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Recommendations include developing processes to make sure pain is managed, residents are properly fed and care plans are reviewed and updated. In addition, McFadyen revealed how some families and staff were afraid to bring up complaints, for fear of discipline.

A recommendation was made for Santa Maria to put a process in place so employees can raise concerns and be protected. As well, McFadyen would like to see the province to publicly report on whether each long-term care home in Saskatchewan is meeting proper guidelines.

Since the investigation started, McFadyen revealed her office has received 89 complaints from all over the province about the quality of long-term care.

McFadyen noted that there needs to be improvements to employer-employee relationships.

Minister Duncan said he accepts the recommendations and will begin work soon to implement them. He stated that there will be some process put in place to report back to the public about whether long-term care homes are fulfilling requirements.

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