The Saskatchewan NDP are once again raising concerns about understaffing in long-term care homes.

NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat joined Marea Olafson of Wynyard, who has a grandmother in a long-term care facility in Foam Lake. Olafson says her 93 year-old grandmother mobility is low and she feels the attention isn’t there, as her grandmother has complained she has never felt so filthy in her life. Olafson says they’ve had at least six incidents where she has had to wait 40 minutes to an hour to get to the washroom. Olafson suggests her grandmother is being forced to be incontinent, and as a result she will deteriorate enough, they will just need to put her in diapers, which she says goes against guidelines of respect and dignity.

Mowat says understanding of long-term care is a serious problem in Saskatchewan, as Marea’s grandmother has experienced in the past months. She says front line care workers have been working incredibly hard, under difficult circumstances, especially during the pandemic and called on urgent action to address understaffing, and the safety of residents, staff and their families.