The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions brought its call for more personal support workers in long-term care facilities to Wingham.
The council presented the findings of survey of personal support workers from facilities across the province at a media conference at he Knights of Columbus Centre this morning. It recommends the province implement a mandatory minimum staffing ratio of one personal support worker to every eight residents, guaranteeing each resident will receive a minimum four hours of hands-on care a day. The report also calls for the creation of segregated units for violent residents and implement infectious disease testing.
Regional vice-president Kevin Tyrrell says 91 per cent of participants do not feel satisfied with the level of care they are able to provide and most identified the lack of staff as the reason. He says "what a lot of our PSW's told us is that they felt like factory workers rather than actually providing a home-like environment."
Tyrrell says they will be finishing their media tour in Toronto in January and are also looking at a possible human rights complaint, alleging ageism by the provincial government.