Staffing is key issue, says Health Quality Council of Alberta survey

Staffing is one of the biggest issues when it comes to long-term care, according to a survey conducted by the Health Quality Council of Alberta.

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Family members' top recommendation for improvement at the provincial levelwas for more staff, the council said.

"What we saw primarilyin the responses from familiesfell into three categories,which included high staff turnover, not enough staff, or not seeing the same staff consistently,"said council spokesman AndrewNeuner.

Other priorities for familieswere:

• Timely help with basic needs such as eating and bathing.
• Cleaner facilities.
• Access to other health-care services like physiotherapy.
• Better food.

The council spent the last year seeking feedback from nearly 8,000 Albertans with family members in any of the 160 private and public care facilities in the province.

It says respondents gave an average overall rating of eightout of 10 similar to the last survey in 2010.

"It is of concern to us that the results are not improving as we all would have hoped,"saidNeuner.

This is the third such survey conducted by the council in eight years, but it's the first time it has published results on each facility.

Neuner says he hopes the rankings will give facilities a better indication of how they compare to others across the province, so they can make necessary improvements.

Detailed results can be found on the Health Quality Council's website.