NDP will ensure residents of long-term care get the care they deserve

Halifax – Today NDP Leader Gary Burrill spoke with Laura Stewart, a Continuing Care Assistant from Lunenburg, about how seniors in nursing homes are not getting the care they deserve because eight years of Liberal choices have forced health care workers to do more with less, and seniors and workers are paying the price.

“The crisis in long-term care has been made worse by eight years of Liberal government inaction,” said Burrill. “They chose not to build new long-term care beds and that choice has hurt the entire health care system. Seniors who push their call button are left wondering if and when someone will come – they deserve better.”

The legal minimum standard for nursing care has not been improved since 1977 even though report after report has told the Liberals that health care workers need more support to do their job to the level they strive for.

“We all care so much about the residents we care for, but things have changed. We start every shift short and spend every hour trying to catch up,” said Stewart. “We keep saying we need help and we need to be heard. Dedicated staff are doing all we can to put the focus on our seniors but we need a government that is going to listen and help make sure we can provide care at the levels residents deserve.”

The Liberal government has suppressed wages and downplayed the value of long-term care for eight years. Rankin still refuses to commit to increasing care standards for seniors.

"Many of us leave at the end of our shift both physically and mentally exhausted and feel guilty that we couldn’t spend enough time with each person we do our best to care for,” said Angela Downey, a long-term care worker and NDP candidate for Hammonds Plains-Lucasville. “We are exhausted, but we love what we do. We are working longer with less support, we are caring for seniors with more complex needs. In the pandemic the Liberals called us heroes, but since then nothing has really changed.”

An NDP government will set a minimum standard for 4.1 hours of care per resident each day and 1.3 hours of nursing care to ensure consistent, timely care for seniors who deserve a better quality of life.

“It’s time to pay long-term care workers what they are worth and to create a work environment that allows them to provide the care and support to our seniors that they so desperately want to give,” said Burrill. “Seniors and other long-term care residents deserve better than more Liberal promises with no action. The NDP will treat seniors and health care workers with the respect and dignity they deserve. It’s time for something better.”

Burrill will campaign today in Hammonds Plains-Lucasville, Lunenburg, Lunenburg West, and Chester-St Margaret’s.

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