The province’s new Seniors’ Advocate says a review of personal care and long-term care homes in the province is vital.
Susan Walsh is reiterating the need for a complete review three years after the previous Seniors’ Advocate made a similar recommendation as a result of a 2019 report.
Walsh has conducted engagement sessions with seniors and their families throughout the province and long-term care keeps coming up.
The concerns she’s heard surround three main areas including the structure of long-term care and how patients are grouped together, leaving some residents at risk. Another area of concern relates to staffing levels and oversight, not to mention senior care.
She’s heard about cases where trays of food are brought in to seniors who are unable to feed themselves and left, only to be picked up again, “and no one really picked up on the fact that the senior didn’t get anything to eat that day.” In other cases, a senior might have to wait a week or so to get a bath.
Walsh will next week issue her update on previous recommendations made and the actions taken to address them.