Province ignored recommendations to make Sask. long-term care safer for seniors: Opposition

The Official Opposition called out the province during Tuesday's legislative session for not making meaningful changes to Saskatchewan's long-term care system.

The NDP say the system has failed many seniors, especially during the pandemic. 

Saskatoon resident Rose Botting was in attendance at the session. Her late mother, Frances Sander, then 82, fell in her room at her residence at the Rose Villa care facility in Rosetown in April 2018.

According to an August report by the provincial ombudsman, Sander was assessed upon admission as having a high risk of falling. She fell and was found beside her bed her first night there.

Five days later, she fell again and was discovered both bleeding and unresponsive on the floor of her bathroom. She was taken to the hospital where she died three days later.  

On Tuesday, Botting told reporters she wants to make sure seniors are safe in Saskatchewan long-term care homes. 

"I hope that seniors care is more of a priority," she said. "We do need standards for senior care … we need training, we need funding. We need staffing. I don't expect it to happen overnight, but I'd really like to see some movement."  

The ombudsman's report on the case called for further measures to protect seniors in long-term care, including a recommendation that the Saskatchewan Health Authority develop and implement a "single, comprehensive, province-wide, adverse health event reporting and investigation process."

The report says the investigation process should clearly identify the notification, reporting and investigative requirements and processes for all special-care homes and other facilities operated by the SHA. 

However, the NDP say the province has taken no steps to ensure further protection. 

"We've known that this government has been ignoring experts for years, and this is especially true in long-term care," Matt Love, Official Opposition critic for seniors, said during question period. 

"Report after report from oversight bodies like the auditor and the ombudsman provide a roadmap of how to make long-term care more safe in Saskatchewan. Their recommendations were ignored. We still are not inspecting or reporting on conditions in long-term care.

"Hundreds of seniors have died in deplorable conditions in long-term care, and this government hasn't learned a single lesson."