Posts: 53296
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 1:57 pm
It's systemic.
I've got a friend that used to work in a care centre for the long term disabled. The stories from places like that are horrible. People given pills to stop bowel movements, then laxatives - for when staff have time to move residents to the toilets . . . hours waiting to be moved in or out of a bathroom . . .
Her section was terribly understaffed, and the other section - which deals in severely handicapped people - had 2 deaths of residents. One died out front of the care facility in the winter because his wheelchair got stuck in the snow, the other died on the toilet when their respirator got unplugged and no one checked on them for an hour.
The result of the fatality inquests, you would think would be to hire more staff. But all they did was move staff from the really understaffed side, to the side where there were 2 deaths. So, 1 nurse and 3 RNA's look after 50 residents for 8 hours, 3 shifts a day. Duties that 2 Nurses and 6 RNA's couldn't do in an 8 hour shift. It wasn't from lack of caring, it was lack of staffing.
Bet everyone is now looking forward to getting too old to care for themselves.