District of Muskoka’s health committee heard from the administrator at The Pines Long-Term Care Home who spoke to committee about a ‘serious’ incident reported on December 6, 2022, involving the suspected abuse of a resident.
She told the District’s January 19, 2023, Health Services Committee that the Pines leadership team investigated the incident and determined that two staff members at the home had:
• Physically restrained a resident unnecessarily;
• Did not respect a resident’s right to refuse care;
• Inappropriately made contact with a resident; and
• Failed to follow protocols regarding responsive behaviours and resident abuse.
As a result of the investigation, she said immediate actions were taken:
• Placed the involved staff members on administrative leave;
• Completed a fulsome investigation:
• Reported to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), who are conducting their own
investigation into the matter;
• Notified the family members of the impacted resident;
• Reported to the Ministry of Long-Term Care; and
• Subsequent to completing the investigation, terminated the employment of the
involved staff members.
In her report to the committee, Ridgley stated that the investigation also determined that a registered staff member failed to act after the incident was reported to them on December 5, 2022. The matter was investigated and resulted in the suspension of staff and the matter was reported to the Ontario College of Nurses (CNO).
She said staff developed a thorough action plan to address the incident. In her report, she also noted that the Pines developed an action plan to address the incident and to prevent further incidents from occurring. The plan includes educational strategies that have been developed. The plan has been reported to the Ministry.
She added that Ministry inspectors arrived at the Pines on January 9, 2023, to investigate the incident independently and are expected to issue findings. All Ministry investigations and findings are publicly reported.
Bracebidge and District councillor Tatiana Sutherland questioned whether insufficient staffing issues may have had an impact on the incident. Pines administrator Jennifer Ridgley said staffing had no bearing on the incident. “This incident, it was not a staffing concern and I can say that with utilizing the staffing agencies on a regular basis, we are fully staffed at the home and we’re lucky to be able to utilize those agencies to fill the staffing vacancies that we do have.”
Copies of the public inspection reports detailing all findings of noncompliance must be publicly posted in LTC Homes here, and provided to residents and family councils.
You can find the staff report to committee, here.
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I’m so thankful to see this was handled quickly and all the steps takin to prevent it ever happening again. We don’t tolerate this in Muskoka and an isolated incident like this is horrible, my heart hurts but you took all the steps to care for your resident! Bless them.