Alberta long-term care homes see spike in abuse, report says

Conditions in Alberta senior and long-term care homes are getting worse, not better, according to government statistics which show a spike in reports of abuse.

The latest report from the province’s own Protection for Person in Care program shows hundreds of allegations of abuse last year. Evidence supported 157 of them, which is three times more than the previous year.

The most common complaint was failure to provide the necessities of life, followed by sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

One expert on the state of continuing care in the province says poor care is directly tied to staff well-being.

“What we’re seeing is actually a short-of perfect storm of understaffing, high turnover rates, low pay, and heavy workloads,” explained Rebecca Graff-McRae with The Parkland Institute.

She says the issues translate to less care for residents.

“Delays in getting meals, getting dressing changed, getting to a washroom, changed when they don’t get to the washroom…impact on human dignity,” she says.

A statement from the Alberta health ministry says the government committed over $112 million over the past year to address staffing challenges and added various grants to support staff mental health.

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s office suggests operators are funded to ensure staff can provide the highest standards of care and new changes in legislation means “that in practice residents are actually receiving more hours of care.”

Lori Sigurdson, the NDP’s shadow minister for seniors and continuing care, is calling the statement from the province a talking point and says it “doesn’t make any sense.”

She says the sector needs to be properly funded, and agrees working well-being is key. She claims working conditions are so bad that operators have to recruit 50 per cent of their staff each year.

“One of the things the sector has done, a lot of time because of the for-profit model, is to just have part-time workers so that they can not give them benefits, and that creates more turnover,” she said.

Sigurdson says all stakeholders are aware their needs to be more funding from government.