Family calling for changes in Sask. long-term care homes
A Saskatchewan woman is calling for better measures to protect seniors in long term care homes due to the findings of an investigation into the death of her mother in a Saskatchewan care home.
Three years ago, Rose Botting’s mother, Frances Sander, was found bleeding and unresponsive on the floor of a Rosetown nursing home.
“The public needs to know that seniors may not be safe in their nursing home. We also want to put the government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s feet to the fire to make sure that seniors are safe,” Botting said.
A report from Ombudsman Saskatchewan following an investigation into the incident highlighted the need for more staff and legislated standards in long term-care.
The Ombudsman found that the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) operated negligently. According to the report, when Sander was admitted to the care home, she was assessed as high risk of falling. Despite the assessment, a plan was not implemented to prevent falls.
“Incidents are going to happen. Seniors are going to fall. It happens all the time but they need to be investigated to make sure that proper preventative measures are in place,” said Botting.
In the report, the Ombudsman stated that the Ministry of Health’s Program Guidelines for Special Care Homes establishes a minimum standard of care for residents in Saskatchewan’s long-term care facilities.
As a result of the investigation, it provided the following recommendations: The Saskatchewan Health Authority develop and implement a single, comprehensive adverse health event reporting and investigation process that identifies the notification, reporting and investigation requirements, and processes for all special-care homes and other facilities operated by the Authority; and ensure that anyone assigned to investigate an adverse health event, including critical incidents is independent and appropriately trained to carry out investigations professionally and in a timely manner.
The minister of seniors, Everett Hindley said that improvements will be made with the launch of a new long-term care home inspection process.
“This is going to be piloted and launched in a number of communities here fairly shortly and that would be the latest step to that we’ve taken to improving the inspection process,” he said.
Official opposition critic for seniors, Matt Love, said that steps need to be taken for more to be done.
“Recommendations made by Ombudsman have not been adopted by this government. In particular, a recommendation was made [in] 2013 to inspect and publicly report on the conditions on all long-term care facilities. This is one that the minister himself says they continue to work on. That was six years ago,” he said.
Botting said she hopes to see concrete changes made to long-term care so others don’t have to lose a family member this way.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.