Oakview Place staffing ‘in line with provincial standards of care’: WRHA

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This article was published 06/10/2023 (734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Allegations of resident neglect due to staff shortages at a for-profit long-term care home have been investigated, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says, finding Extendicare Oakview Place in line with provincial standards.

On Thursday, the Free Press reported allegations from two whistleblowing health-care aides at the Winnipeg facility, under the promise of anonymity.

Both said issues had arisen after a staff restructuring by the Ontario-based company last month, that resulted in around 25 per cent fewer staff on the floor. The allegations ranged from residents being left in bed for hours to staff being forced to skip bath times to people dying without a nurse or aide by their side.

“The WRHA is aware of concerns brought forward by staff at Oakview Place regarding changes to the scheduling of staff and potential for impact on resident care. Our teams have completed visits to Oakview Place to observe resident care and speak with staff, and have met with regional Extendicare leaders,” a WRHA spokesperson said Friday in an email.

“We can confirm staffing levels are in line with provincial standards of care… We can also confirm that no patient has died as a result of call bells being ignored.”

A spokesperson for Extendicare Ltd. said the change was made to reduce the company’s reliance on temporary agency staff brought on during the COVID-19 pandemic and hoped it would “increase permanent opportunities for Extendicare team members.”

“It’s important for us to restate that, at all times, schedules for staff in the home fully meet the provincial standard for hours of care, which all personal care homes must adhere to,” the spokesperson said.

“Allegations that any resident has come to the end of their life without support or being attended to with respect and dignity are categorically untrue.”

The spokesperson turned down a request for an interview.

One of the health-care aides who spoke with the Free Press stood by the allegations Friday, saying three residents had died without a nurse or health-care aide by their side in the past two weeks.

“Corporate is disconnected from the care home itself. Our management is very much supporting us, giving us what we need, trying to find the issues and change them. And then corporate is like, ‘No, we’re fine, we’re good, nothing’s wrong,’” the source said.

Long-standing issues of neglect have only been exacerbated by staffing cuts, leaving seniors to pay the price, the family of one Oakview Place resident said.

Brenda Helgason said she was aware staff were being shuffled and has seen the impact of fewer health-care aides on the floor on her 94-year-old mother, other residents and staff.

“I’ve witnessed it. My mom has a roommate who’s in a wheelchair, and when she has to go to the bathroom, she’ll press her buzzer — nobody will come,” Helgason said Friday.

“She’ll wheel her wheelchair into the hall and say, ‘Please, please, I need to go to the bathroom.’ And I’ve witnessed — she’s waited a half an hour, an hour, and I’ve finally gone to a nurse and said, ‘Look, (she) needs to go to the bathroom.’”

Helgason said she would like to see the WRHA intervene.

“It’s frightening, it’s aggravating, it’s frustrating, because you don’t know who to turn to,” she said.

In Saskatchewan, the government formally took control of five Extendicare homes, transferring around 1,300 employees to the Saskatchewan Health Authority in the process, after a report from the province’s ombudsman called Extendicare “badly prepared” to handle a 28-day COVID-19 outbreak that left 39 residents dead in one of its facilities in November 2020.

The WRHA spokesperson said there are “no plans” for Manitoba to enact something similar at Oakview Place.

Extendicare Oakview Place staff voted for a strike mandate in September, seeking improved pay and benefits in line with what the public-sector receives.

Claire Campbell, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local representing Oakview Place members, said the union had asked the change in staffing be delayed, but were turned down by Extendicare.

The move “puts an added strain on our facility that is already strained to the limit,” Campbell said. “The new schedule results in less staff on days, and relegates many of our staff to part-time positions, with only 32 guaranteed hours in two weeks.”

As a result, CUPE has received 47 grievances from workers, she added.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca