UPDATED: Alberta nursing union says new regulations worsen continuing care

The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) warned new continuing care regulations set to come into effect on April 1 will mean there will be no legal requirement to provide nursing care for people in these facilities. “So we are taking the care out of continuing care,” said UNA President Heather Smith in a Tuesday press release. The Continuing Care Act (CCA) passed in 2022, eliminating language from previous legislation identifying a minimum number of hours of nursing care that had to be provided to continuing care patients. The Alberta government published the Continuing Care Regulation that is supposed to take effect on April 1 and includes no mention of a minimum number of required hours of nursing care. Under the previous legislation, continuing care home operators had to provide 1.9 hours of nursing and personal care per day, which 22% had to be provided by a registered nurse or registered psychiatric nurse. While that was inadequate, Smith said there was a minimum legal standard. “The government now plans to completely eliminate requiring even that meagre level of care,” said Smith. A report conducted by MNP and commissioned by the Alberta government in 2021 recommended increasing the number of hours of care people received each day. However, she said the new regulations do the opposite. “We are moving to zero hours of care,” she said. “This is extremely dangerous.”A stroke patient was sent to recover alone in a motel in Leduc, AB. She acknowledged she feared this “is only a harbinger of things to come.”By contrast, the Ontario government has increased the requirement for care for each patient to four hours per day. Smith said the UNA is concerned the new regulations allow broad exemptions to the watered-down rules governing continuing care facility operations without public transparency or meaningful oversight. While the Alberta government wants to transform its continuing care system, the UNA said the new regulations are confusing and make reference to guidelines not referenced anywhere else. It added the three levels of continuing care established in the regulations published on February 24 lack definitions in the current version of the document. A report conducted by the Alberta Auditor General in February recommended implementing a system “to mitigate the risk that a facility is not providing residents with the number and type of care staff needed to ensure safe, quality resident care.”By bringing forward these regulations, Smith said the Alberta government appears to be trying to permit larger numbers of people without healthcare qualifications or limited training to work in continuing care. Despite the size and nature of staffing requirements under the CCA, she said they can be changed without any mechanism of appeal or oversight by a director of continuing care. “Everything about the regulations suggests the government’s policy emphasis is to allow home operators to be exempted from following the rules, not ensuring the rules are obeyed,” she said.Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley responded to the expected lowered care hours in the Alberta Legislature by saying the United Conservative Party is committed to lowering healthcare standards. “But now with continuing care, they’re actually throwing them right out,” said Notley. “Currently, nursing homes across Alberta are required to deliver just under two hours of care to everyone in their care.” While care is provided, Notley said the amount is too low. But a minimum standard of care was too much for the Alberta UCP. In a closed door cabinet meeting, the UCP scrapped the minimum standard. She asked if Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange will admit the government is wrong and reinstate or raise the minimum standard of care. LaGrange said the Alberta NDP was misinformed. “In fact, our government is committed to supporting healthcare workers while ensuring Albertans receive the care they need when and where they need it,” said LaGrange. “The previous minimum of 1.9 care hours was outdated and has not been updated since 1985.” In fact, she said the Alberta government was providing funds to continuing care homes to give 3.6 care hours per person every day. She vowed to provide the coverage people need.Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney announced in 2022 the government would spend $3.7 billion to expand continuing care for seniors and vulnerable people. READ MORE: UCP will spend billions to increase continuing care for AlbertansOf the total, $1.7 billion will go to community care, $1.2 billion to continuing care and $750 million to home care. Capital funding of $204 million will modernize existing continuing care facilities and create new spaces.Effective 2022, 1,515 continuing care spaces would open in Alberta.

UPDATED: Alberta nursing union says new regulations worsen continuing care

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