Ombudsman’s investigation highlights need for more staff and legislated standards in long-term care

REGINA - Official Opposition Critic for Seniors Matt Love was joined by Rose Botting today to call for systemic changes to the province’s long-term care system following a critical incident in Long-term Care that led to her mother’s death. An Ombudsman's investigation released in August into the death of Botting’s mother, Frances Sander, underscored lapses in quality of care as well as inadequate processes in critical incident investigations.

“The SHA and Ministry of Health need to pay better attention to what is taking place in our long-term care facilities,” asserted Botting. “This is a systemic issue that impacts many, many seniors, and families. It is not going to get better without proper oversight, and changes to staffing and supervision.”

The Official Opposition has been consistently raising alarms on the state of seniors care in Saskatchewan for years, but the Sask Party government has yet to implement calls to re-introduce minimum care standards, address chronic short-staffing and appoint an independent seniors advocate.

“The Ombudsman’s report shows what we already knew: that there are serious systemic issues in long-term care,” stated Love. “What happened to Frances was tragic and is yet another example of the urgent need for legislated care standards and staff recruitment in long-term care. Our caucus will continue to bring attention to this situation and call on the government to respond to the long-standing issues in long-term care like the crisis that it is.

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For more information please contact:

Brock Bowman

306-519-9549

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