Long-term care is being neglected, say Personal Support Workers and RPNs in Winchester. PSWs and RPNs say they are demoralized and defeated by routine understaffing resulting in lonely, isolated and often depressed residents. PSWs and RPNs simply don’t have adequate time to provide residents with the social and emotional care they desperately need. The Canadian Union of Public Employees is distributing a publication entitled “Pushed Out of Hospital, Abandoned at Home.”
91 per cent of the study participants said they are not able to provide good quality care, while 97 per cent identified not enough staff and heavy workloads as the key reasons they cannot provide quality care. They identified dangerously high resident to staff ratios – up to 15 residents per PSW on dayshifts and up to 42 residents per PSW on nightshifts. RPN staffing ranged from 30-42 per resident on both the day and nightshift.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees says long-term care patients are being neglected. Chronic understaffing is fueling a barrage of injuries (in both residents and staff), infection, bed sores, abuse and unsafe work practices. Lax infection control and delayed testing of new residents for common infection are a huge concern in cases of evacuation or other emergencies.
