Opposition health critic James Aylward says he wants answers about a privacy breach involving photos taken of residents at a long-term-care home in western P.E.I.
To do that, he asked the standing committee on health and wellness to call several witnesses including the facility’s administrator and Health P.E.I.’s CEO.
“I think that we owe it to all Islanders to ensure that particularly our seniors when they’re going into these senior facilities that they are safe, they are protected,” he said.
Health P.E.I. started an investigation into allegations of privacy breaches at the Margaret Stewart Ellis Home in O’Leary.Photos were posted on social media and the CBC reported last month the pictures included a headshot of one of the facility’s deceased residents.
In addition, an employee had, over a period of months, shared with other employees photos and videos of residents eating, sleeping and using a commode and of staff providing personal care to certain residents.
RELATED: Photo sharing of dead long-term-care resident angers P.E.I. Opposition
Aylward said he would like to find out how the investigation was conducted, who conducted it and why Health P.E.I. didn’t think it was necessary to adhere to recommendations from the investigation.
Along with the privacy violations, Aylward also sought to call witnesses to get more information about the use of facilitated communication in the province.
That stemmed from a case in which the police investigated an autistic woman’s father, which turned out to be unfounded because of the use of that technique.
Aylward also wanted to call witnesses about orthopedic surgery wait times, emergency room wait times and the wait for long-term-care beds.
He said many seniors have been waiting in hospitals for extended periods of time and get medically discharged with no beds available.
“So they’re just sort of being warehoused in one of our acute care facilities,” he said.
Who the committee will actually call as witnesses on all of those subjects is still unclear because the committee went in camera to discuss its work plan.
That means none of that part of the meeting was made public.
Opposition health critic James Aylward says he wants answers about a privacy breach involving photos taken of residents at a long-term-care home in western P.E.I.
To do that, he asked the standing committee on health and wellness to call several witnesses including the facility’s administrator and Health P.E.I.’s CEO.
“I think that we owe it to all Islanders to ensure that particularly our seniors when they’re going into these senior facilities that they are safe, they are protected,” he said.
Health P.E.I. started an investigation into allegations of privacy breaches at the Margaret Stewart Ellis Home in O’Leary.Photos were posted on social media and the CBC reported last month the pictures included a headshot of one of the facility’s deceased residents.
In addition, an employee had, over a period of months, shared with other employees photos and videos of residents eating, sleeping and using a commode and of staff providing personal care to certain residents.
RELATED: Photo sharing of dead long-term-care resident angers P.E.I. Opposition
Aylward said he would like to find out how the investigation was conducted, who conducted it and why Health P.E.I. didn’t think it was necessary to adhere to recommendations from the investigation.
Along with the privacy violations, Aylward also sought to call witnesses to get more information about the use of facilitated communication in the province.
That stemmed from a case in which the police investigated an autistic woman’s father, which turned out to be unfounded because of the use of that technique.
Aylward also wanted to call witnesses about orthopedic surgery wait times, emergency room wait times and the wait for long-term-care beds.
He said many seniors have been waiting in hospitals for extended periods of time and get medically discharged with no beds available.
“So they’re just sort of being warehoused in one of our acute care facilities,” he said.
Who the committee will actually call as witnesses on all of those subjects is still unclear because the committee went in camera to discuss its work plan.
That means none of that part of the meeting was made public.
