NDP, AUPE raise concerns about new continuing care regulation

By ANNA SMITH Local Journalism Initiative on March 27, 2024.

asmith@medicinehatnews.com

Upcoming changes to the provincial continuing-care regulations have sparked concern, as the revised document makes no mention of a minimum number of hours of nursing care.

Previous regulations required a 1.9 hours of nursing and personal care per day in a continuing care home, a portion of which had to be provided by a registered nurse or registered psychiatric nurse. What was recently published by the province, and now set to come into effect April 1, makes no mention of required hours.

“This is clear evidence that the UCP plans to reduce the quality of care received by seniors and the accountability for that care,” said Lori Sigurdson, NDP critic for Seniors Issues, Continuing Care and Home Care. “Standards of care should be included in regulation and Albertans should have public access to that information. Now, the UCP’s changes leave it up to agreements between the government and care providers instead of making a uniform rule. This is unacceptable.”

These concerns are shared by Sandra Azocar, executive vice president of Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.

“It’s a very significant change, it will just continue to create, or just make the issues that we already see in this sector become even more serious in nature,” said Azocar.

Azocar noted that it was recommended by a review done in 2021 to receive more direct care hours, with the recommendation of 4.5 hours still being “on the low side.”

“A lot of research has indicated that for long-term care where people require 24/7, unscheduled care, they require at least 4.9 hours of direct care, which means hands-on care,” said Azocar. “These changes make it very clear that this government is more interested in their ideological pursuit of privatization and allowing the market forces to determine the level of care that Albertans get.”

AUPE’s concern, first and foremost, is that it leaves a sector many of its members work in without direction regarding how many people need to be on the floor at one time.

“What happens, something we already see, is that it seriously impacts the level of care that seniors receive in long-term care and continuing care,” said Azocar. “Basically, no matter where they’re living, or what level of care they require, it doesn’t seem to be sufficient. For the people who are providing this care, it also leaves them open to having to do so much more without the appropriate levels of staffing.”

“The regulation must be amended to include a minimum number of hours of care, and that minimum number of hours should be increased,” said Sigurdson. “The Auditor General concluded that 1.9 hours was already too low. There is no reason this should be dropped. Our parents, grandparents and loved ones deserve more care, not less. Albertans in continuing care deserve better from this UCP government.”

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