Family of elderly woman in Regina hospital says she has not been bathed in 2 weeks

Marianne Selinger is disappointed with the care her 94-year-old grandmother has been receiving in the Regina General Hospital.

Selinger said her grandmother has not received a bath from staff during the two weeks that she has been in hospital. 

"I've been going almost every day when I'm done work," Selinger said.

"It was last Friday that my uncle and I were talking about it. He actually went out and spoke to a nurse and said, 'Can you bath my mom today?'"

• 20 Regina health region workers losing their jobs

• Reinvest in health care, and reverse Saskatoon cuts says union

The nurse said that they would put it in the books for the next day but it didn't happen, according to Selinger. 

"I asked her last night, I said Grandma didn't you get a bath yet? And she goes 'no, don't worry about it. I'm bathing myself in the sink.' That's when I was done," Selinger said.

"I finally decided to contact the patient advocate and they said I couldn't do a lot without having my grandmother's consent."

• Sask. ombudsman says family of senior who died in long-term care deserves apology

She said her grandmother is waiting to move to respite care and doesn't want to file a formal complaint because she doesn't want to upset anyone. However, Selinger is concerned other people are not being bathed, in addition to her grandmother.

"It has been two weeks since she has had a bath in the hospital and it's been 18 days since she hasn't had a bath all together," Selinger said.  

Health region says there are safety checks

The Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region is unable to comment on the patient in question, but said they have regulations in place to make sure that all patients are properly cared for.

Lori Garchinski is the executive director of critical care, and cardio sciences. 

"As part of our documentation standards, we do assessments every 12 hours and part of that assessment are components of personal hygiene and care that are incorporated into the work that the nurses are expected to comment on," she said. 

"Most definitely there can be patients that have independent care. In a lot of our medicine units we have seniors, where our goal is to maintain the mobility that they came into the hospital with. So if patients are providing their care, that would be included on the chart."

Garchinski also said that patients and their relatives could file any complaints or concerns through the patient advocate.