Simkin Centre’s shortcomings outlined in review

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This article was published 26/11/2011 (5303 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A troubled Winnipeg personal care home is searching for an acting chief executive officer as it grapples with a second review into its operations.

The latest report into the Sharon Home’s Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre, released on Friday, recommends ways to improve the facility’s management structure and staff morale.

It was initiated following the death of a 93-year-old resident, Lilyan Peck, in October 2010. A provincial health-care watchdog determined Peck suffered abuse due to neglect.

An earlier review focused on quality-of-care issues at the centre. The latest report, by Peter Kafka, a CEO of a B.C. personal care home and hospital, dwells on problems with board accountability and staff management.

Kafka said the Simkin Centre “has been and continues to provide quality care to its residents.” Yet, he pointed out several shortcomings in board and staff oversight. And he said the centre lacks a strategic plan.

Among the governance issues, he noted board members do not have term limits and there is no transparent or formalized process for selecting new members. “There is no access to Board positions without being ‘selected’ by the current Board of Directors,” he wrote.

Communication is lacking between managers and between management and staff, residents and their families, he said. And there are no proper protocols in place for dealing with complaints. He said centre staff suffers from low morale and work in a “siege mentality where staff felt that nothing they did was satisfactory.”

The report also goes on at length about the role and necessary qualities of a chief executive officer, without naming or explicitly criticizing Simkin Centre CEO Sandra Delorme.

Delorme has been on indefinite leave since Oct. 11. In February, Delorme’s contract was extended for five years retroactive to this past Jan. 1.

Kafka said the CEO had been focusing her attention on such board priorities as achieving financial stability and creating a new site for the centre and moving it to its new location in Linden Ridge just off McGillivray Boulevard. It is time that the CEO now focuses on “operational issues,” engaging staff, families and residents, and creating a “high-functioning, positive, focused management team,” he wrote.

Winnipeg lawyer Jonathan Kroft, who has only been a member of the centre’s board for less than a month, said the centre is now seeking an acting CEO. Kroft said it was decided Friday that he would answer media questions because he co-chairs the centre’s governance committee.

He said the Simkin Centre’s board is in agreement with the report’s wide-ranging recommendations for improvement and has formed an internal task force to see that they are carried out.

Meanwhile, the centre still has to defend itself in a private prosecution related to Peck’s death. It has been charged with criminal negligence causing death in an action initiated by lawyer Harvey Berkal. His father was also a resident of the facility and died two years ago.

Kafka’s report was ordered by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and the provincial Health Department. Real Cloutier, the WRHA executive responsible for personal care homes, said he met recently with the Simkin board and believes it is serious about reform. He also noted the 15-member body has several new members.

“I think this last year has been hard on everybody, and we do need to get moving with addressing these issues,” Cloutier said of the report.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca