Long term care providers overworked
Posted Feb 16, 2012 01:53:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, On. — Long term care staff are calling on the provincial government to hire more workers for understaffed facilities.
They say staff are over worked and patients need more than the 2.25 hours of one-on-one time they get per day.
“Is there ever time to walk you down the hall? No there isn’t,” said Michael Hurley, the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. “Is there ever time to talk to you like a human being if you don’t have family? No there’s not. Is there time to take you to the bathroom, so you can maintain control over your own bodily functions? No there’s not enough time. You’re not taken to the bathroom enough, and guess what? No surprise, you eventually lose the ability to have that self control. That’s what we’re doing to a generation of seniors.
They are calling on the provincial government to legislate a minimum of 3.5 hours of care per patient in a long-term care facility per day.
“Just to have a drink of water, you have to wait because I’m busy here,” said Kevin Desroches, a personal support worker at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre. “You have to wait for any kind of assistance. It’s a shame because what did they do to deserve it?”
