The New Democrats are challenging the Sask. Party government on not punishing health care workers who speak up about issues in the health sector.
NDP leader Ryan Meili brought up an email he, Premier Scott Moe and Health Minister Jim Reiter received raising concerns about the quality of care in a Strasbourg seniors care home. The email was sent on Wednesday.
Meili said the government likes to make sure their healthcare workers don’t speak up.
“This government has neglected the needs of seniors in long-term care for far too long,” started Meili during Friday’s question period. “Health professionals shouldn’t have to scream from the rooftops and risk retribution from a vindictive government just to make sure the seniors they are caring for get adequate care.”
Provincial Rural Health Minister Warren Kaeding says the comfort of all residents is important, but says if the heat was too extreme, they would have known about it.
“Our facilities are regularly monitored, and certainly we have maintenance people responsible for monitoring that,” said Kaeding. “If it was something that was out of range, we certainly would have, or SHA, would have heard about that.”
The recently completed CEO Tour of the province’s long-term care homes did not pinpoint the temperature control at the Strasbourg home as an issue.
Kaeding says the omission of the issue from the CEO Tour report is a one-off situation.
“That was never an issue that was identified as a critical issue,” said Kaeding. “We do rely a lot on surveys like that, and responses from our residents, responses from residents’ families. So, again we are looking at a one- off situation.”
NDP Leader Ryan Meili says that the failure to mention the issue in the CEO Tour report, shows how flawed those kinds of reviews are.
“One of the things that really strikes me, is this isn’t a priority and it doesn’t show up in the SHA CEO report,” said Meili. “Which just further underlines what a complete waste of time a report that doesn’t actually have an independent look at what’s going on in long-term care is, for getting residents the care they need.”
Meili adds that the government has ignored issues like this for years, and people shouldn’t have to yell from the rooftops to get a result.
