During Question Period in the Legislature on Thursday, NDP Associate Health Critic Keith Jorgenson called on the Province for reform following the assault of a 99-year-old man at a Regina care home. 

Jorgenson says Marcel was attacked by a patient with dementia in his room, leaving him with a swollen face and bloodshot eyes after a head impact.  

Lori Carr is the Minister for Seniors.  She says, “There is no room for abuse in our system, and as you can see, I am introducing a bill on the floor today that will strengthen some of those policies and regulations that are in place to ensure that stuff like this doesn’t happen again.”

The proposed changes to the Personal Care Homes Act aim to strengthen oversight of care for people living in personal care homes and also give the Ministry of Health the ability to increase fines if problems are not corrected.  

She adds that the Province is also working to increase capacity across the healthcare industry. 

“Two-hundred-and-forty specialized long-term care spaces are being built right here in this city. We’re building facilities. We have upcoming projects in Estevan and Watson. We have facilities in La Ronge that are ongoing, Grenfell….”

Saskatchewan currently has 237 licensed Personal care homes with more than 4,700 beds. 

The Province also introduced legislative changes to attempt to recover health care costs associated with certain drug-related damages. 

The amendments are part of a national push to streamline the litigation process by providing the Government of Canada with its own legal avenue to pursue the recovery of federal health care costs associated with opioid-related harms. 

A release from the Province says, “Several jurisdictions, including British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and Yukon, have already adopted similar provisions.”