REGINA — Saskatchewan NDP leader Ryan Meili and Seniors Critic Matt Love said a recent investigation into the COVID-19 outbreak at Regina Parkside Extendicare provides proof that an end to for-profit long-term care is needed in the province.
The report, released by the provincial ombudsman on Thursday, was an investigation into the facility’s outbreak in late 2020, which resulted in 39 residents deceased from virus complications and nearly all having tested positive for COVID-19.
The Parkside facility, which is operated by Extendicare on a contracted basis with the SHA, was found to have long-standing issues with overcrowding in resident rooms, understaffing and a lack of storage and space in common areas.
Ombudsman Mary McFadyen determined that a “hands-off” approach from both the SHA and the Ministry of Health meant they were partially to blame for the facility’s “woefully unprepared” state prior and during the outbreak.
During a press appearance in front of Parkside, Love said that the report’s findings are “a symbol of the Sask Party’s failures” to lead during the height of the pandemic, which highlight a larger problem with the long-term care system.
“It's clear from the ombudsman report that this for-profit relationship has failed our seniors and their families, and the hard-working staff at this facility,” said Love.
The ombudsman found that the provincial government and Extendicare were aware of Parkside’s structural and capacity concerns but did not address them, which the opposition said is a “chronic” pattern.
“Jim Reiter as minister of health, and Paul Merriman as his successor, made deliberate choices, and the legacy of those choices must be lasting change,” said Meili.
Part of the probe identified financial negotiations between Extendicare and the SHA as one of the obstacles that prevented the reduction of residents housed in shared in one room.
Negotiations to reduce all 4-bed rooms in the facility to 2-bed rooms were on the table prior to the outbreak, but were waylaid by conversations regarding increasing base funding from the government to cover the decrease in income such a change would cost Extendicare.
Meili said both entities were “too concerned about a few dollars to get their residents to safety” and left them in “mortal danger” for months.
Following the report, the SHA has temporarily been appointed administrator for all Extendicare long-term facilities in the province for the next 30 days, although Meili said that this change should be permanent.
Meili is also calling for big reforms in the long-term care sector, including the end of for-profit care in Saskatchewan and the implementation of minimum standard care requirements for all facilities.
“You couldn't get a clearer example of why [the for-profit model] is the wrong thing to have in Saskatchewan,” said Meili. “Report after report has shown that the care is inadequate, the staffing is inadequate.”
He said the illness and deaths at Parkside during the outbreak could have been prevented, if the provincial government had fulfilled its promise to hire more care aids and been more diligent in putting resident care over dollar figures.
“This is a government that decided that there was an acceptable level of loss of life, and that included 42 who lost their lives here at Parkside Extendicare,” said Meili.
Meili wants to see an official public inquiry into loss of life recorded during the Parkside outbreak, as well as a full inquiry into the Sask Party’s pandemic governance as a whole.
