Le Lézard
Classified in: Health, Business
Subjects: ECO, LBR, SCZ, AVO

Disappointment that Staff to Client Ratio and Working Conditions not Part of Panel's Recommendations


CUPE's response to Nova Scotia Expert Advisory Panel to Recommend
Improvements in Long-Term Care Report

HALIFAX, Jan. 15, 2019 /CNW/ - The Expert Advisory Panel to Recommend Improvements in Long-Term Care missed a golden opportunity to recommend the needed steps to fix the underlying problems in Long-Term Care in Nova Scotia.

Logo: Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) (CNW Group/Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE))

The Panel should have recommended a 4.1 hours of direct care per resident per day (hprd) ratio that would give Long-Term Care workers the time to care. Evidence for a 4.1 hprd is strong and long-standing. Instead, the Panel made recommendations to patch the holes in the system with untrained workers who will require on-the-job training, further taking time away from care.

There are some positives in the report that the Government needs to implement immediately, like the reinstatement of the CCA bursary. CUPE NS calls on the Government to go beyond the Panel's recommended bursary and strongly support Continuing Care worker training with study grants so that students can live and study at the same time. CUPE NS supports the Panel's recommendation that the NS LTC Pressure Injury Prevention Strategy be fully implemented. 

CUPE NS has grave concern that the recommendation for "Long-Term Care Assistants" will not solve the challenges in the sector.

CUPE Nova Scotia President Nan McFadgen says, "The LTC sector is on fire and this report gives it a glass water. What we need is a serious recruitment and retention strategy. We don't need Assistants to Assistants. Continuing Care Assistants haven't had a raise since 2013."

"Our members want to provide the best possible care to residents of Long-Term Care. The Government needs to stop its attack on Long-Term Care workers under Bill 148 to encourage the return of workers who have left the field to pursue better paid and better respected work options," says Nan McFadgen, president of CUPE Nova Scotia.

"Respect for people working in the sector would require increases to the pay for CCAs, who start at $16.38/hr."

CUPE NS Long-Term Care Coordinating Committee (LTCCC) Chairperson Louise Riley says, "We are very disappointed that the Panel did not recommend a 4.1 hours of direct care per resident per day ratio. What we got instead was a recommendation to add unqualified temporary workers to the care mix.

"Continuing Care Assistants are highly qualified and dedicated workers who perform hundreds of skilled tasks every day such as lifts and transfers, feeding, bathing, and dressing. This is skilled work that someone off the street cannot participate in if we are concerned about quality of care," says Riley, chairperson of the CUPE NS LTCCC. Riley continued, "This Panel has not addressed the key aspects that are driving people leaving the sector they love ? mandated shifts, required overtime, 12 to 24 hours shifts, working short, lack of vacation time, last minute changes to schedules, and poor pay."

CUPE National Representative Kathy MacLeod says, "The Government cannot hide behind the Expert Panel's Report and not increase investments in care."

"We have a shortage of Continuing Care Assistants because this Government has created a situation where CCAs are over-worked and don't have the time to care." says MacLeod. "After attacking the front-line workers and cutting staff and freezing wages, it is no surprise that there is a crisis in recruiting and retaining qualified CCAs and LPNs."

CUPE represents approximately 4,000 members working in 48 Long-Term Care homes across Nova Scotia.

 

SOURCE Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)


These press releases may also interest you

at 05:10
Neurology Devices: Global Markets is basically a detailed study or report about the worldwide market for medical tools used in treating neurological conditions. These devices could be anything from equipment that helps stimulate the nervous system to...

at 05:04
Sirnaomics Ltd. (the "Company"; together with its subsidiaries, "Sirnaomics" or the "Group"; stock code: 2257), a leading biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of advanced RNAi therapeutics, has announced its audited...

at 04:28
GymNation, the homegrown UAE fitness brand, has today announced that due to unprecedented growth, it is reaching capacity across its 12 UAE gym locations and diversifying into a new market, brewing up a storm with the launch of its first-ever branded...

at 04:00
Cancer spreads from its primary tumor to other parts of the body via blood or the lymphatic system in a process termed 'metastasis'. This usually represents an advanced stage in the disease's progression and tends to be fatal. Therefore, preventing...

at 03:30
Vicore Pharma Holding (STO:VICO)Sessions at ATS to include an oral late-breaking presentation of the final results from the Phase 2a AIR trial of buloxibutid (C21) in IPFAdditional presentations include preclinical and translational data reflecting...

at 03:13
Orexo's Annual and Sustainability Report for 2023 has been published and can be downloaded at, www.orexo.com. The Swedish version of the Report is also available on the company's website in European Single Electronic Format (ESEF). A PDF version is...



News published on and distributed by: