New rules coming to minimize staff movement between long-term care facilities in Sask.

Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) CEO Scott Livingstone says new rules are coming to reduce the movement of health-care staff between long-term care homes, which have been the source of deadly COVID-19 outbreaks across Canada.

The SHA is being pressured to limit the movement of staff between facilities to reduce the risk of the virus spreading amongst seniors, who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

Seniors' advocates, nurses and the Saskatchewan NDP are among those calling for the province to follow the lead of British Columbia, which has ordered health-care staff to only work in one facility.

Livingstone said about 20 per cent of SHA staff work at multiple facilities. 

"[The SHA needs to] ensure that we're not just protecting the people inside the facilities and the people that work inside the facilities, we need to make sure that we have the staff available to properly care for those folks," he said.  

Livingstone said the SHA is also taking into consideration the high percentage of health-care workers who have been infected with COVID-19 in other places and how that could affect workforce numbers. 

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said Monday that about half of the more than 700 deaths from COVID-19 in Canada are attributed to the spread of the virus in nursing and retirement homes.

Staff and patient cohorts are recommended in a set of guidelines for long-term care homes released by the federal government over the weekend.

Livingstone said plans are in place to introduce cohorting, which involves having some staff working with a certain group of patients — such as those with the virus — or only working in one facility. The new rules will not be unique to long-term care workers, he said, adding that details about how the plan will work should be announced in around a week.  

"Will we limit folks to one single facility? If we have the ability to do that based on the workforce that's available," said Livingstone. 

Temperature testing of workers was already in place in long-term care homes. On Tuesday the protocol was extended to workers at all SHA facilities. A new directive announced on the weekend also requires that long-term care staff wear masks continuously as they work. 

Tracy Zambory, president of Saskatchewan's Union of Nurses, also called for cohorting over the weekend. 

"We shouldn't have to think too long about it," she said, adding the union feels it makes "perfect sense" as the move would protect both frontline staff and patients.

Livingstone said the SHA is working with partners on the logistics of its plan. 

"Why hasn't it happened sooner? It's not as simple as saying 'you're going to work in this facility and you're going to work in that facility,'" he said.  

"People have guaranteed hours, they have work skill sets that might not be movable to other facilities and we need to follow the right process to be able to do that."

Most staff wouldn't lose hours

Randy Kurtz, the administrator of the Sunnyside Adventist Care Centre in Saskatoon, said about one third of his workers are also employed at other health authority care homes and hospitals. 

He spoke to his staff on Tuesday about the potential for changes and has made a list of which of his staff work at different facilities, and where. 

Kurtz said he thinks most of his staff are in favour of cohorting but some are concerned about financial losses. 

"Some of them might lose a part of their livelihood, but when I talked to them about how we would divide it up ... at the end of the day we have the same number of jobs and the same number of hours and the same number of staff, you know, most staff should be kept whole," he said.  

He said the shift, which he expects to be complicated, cannot begin until he gets a directive from the SHA. 

"Because it involves other hospitals and other nursing homes, I can't do it on my own," said Kurtz.

The Sunnyside care home has already decided that if there are any COVID-19 cases at the facility, staff caring for those patients will be separated from other patients and workers and use separate entrances, supplies and meals. 

Kurtz said he believes outbreaks can be avoided in Saskatchewan, particularly given that the province has had more time to prepare than some others. 

Income support should accompany changes: NDP

The Saskatchewan NDP held an online news conference Tuesday to call for cohorting to be introduced.

NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat said any policy from the province would need to include provisions to ensure those workers are not financially impacted. 

"A key component in all of this is making sure those healthcare workers don't lose out on hours or income because of these changes," she said. 

"When you think of folks who are in precarious work, working at a couple of different facilities, one of the biggest concerns that they have with cohorting is that they are going to lose out and that their families are going to be impacted as well."

NDP Leader Ryan Meil said in the same news conference that issues with workers moving between facilities exposes broader problems with the system. 

"You've got a lot of people who are working casual shifts that aren't needed in full-time employment and so you've got people spread out between a number of different facilities," said Meili.  

Seniors' advocates want stricter rules

Dwayne Turcotte is president of the Saskatchewan Seniors Association, an advocacy group for seniors in rural areas. 

He said his organization wrote to Warren Kaeding, the Saskatchewan Minister responsible for seniors, to call for staff movement between facilities to be stopped. 

"With the lack of services in rural Saskatchewan and with the people that are in long-term care homes [who] are already fragile, it's a real concern that if this gets into a care home it could be devastating," said Turcotte. 

The association also asked for better decontamination processes for staff going between long-term care homes and hospitals.