We keep hearing heart-breaking stories from seniors and their families about how understaffing in care homes means basic care just isn’t happening much of the time.
Two out of every three seniors care homes have unfilled staff vacancies, despite their need for even more positions.
Too often, seniors are missing their weekly baths, sometimes for weeks at a time. Call buttons are ringing unanswered. And seniors are being left unattended on toilets for hours. We're even hearing about seniors in care facilities who hardly drink any water because they're afraid there won't be anyone to help them go to the bathroom.
We're hearing about seniors being cut off from vital home care services and being told by this government to consult the Yellow Pages for help. For many of these seniors, losing home care support will result in hospitalization and a long wait in a hospital bed, on the waiting list for a long-term care space.
These are not the kinds of stories about seniors care that Saskatchewan people expect to hear, especially when times are good in our province.
Front-line workers tell us they desperately want to deliver better care, but they’re being left without the staffing levels and support they need to deliver the care they know residents deserve. Sometimes, the staffing ratios balloon to just one worker for 19 residents.
Instead of focusing on fixing the basics in seniors care, this government is obsessed with its Lean pet project.
This government has spent $40 million on just one American Lean consultant, but it rejected $8.5 million in urgent requests from care facilities for desperately needed staff, equipment and repairs. In its most recent budget, this government forced health care facilities to cut another $51 million.
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