Sask. woman says brother waited 6 weeks for long-term care bed

Barb Sambasivam and her brother James. (Courtesy: Barb Sambasivam)

A Saskatoon woman is concerned about the province’s long-term care system after she says her brother spent six weeks in hospital waiting for an appropriate placement.

Barb Sambasivam’s 63-year-old brother, James, lives with myotonic dystrophy — a condition that’s worsened as he’s aged.

After James had a fall, Barb said the private care home he had lived at for about a decade could no longer meet his needs.

“So they sent him over to City Hospital, where he was in a ward with a large number of other seniors and disabled people. The whole hallway was lined on both sides with people in their wheelchairs, waiting,” Sambasivam said.

“They can only find a bed if somebody dies in a nursing home or somebody is moved away for some other reason. So it’s long waits for all of those folks trying to get nursing home care.”

Data obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the Saskatchewan NDP shows the number of long-term care facilities and beds in the province has declined after nearly two decades.

In 2007, Saskatchewan had 181 long-term care facilities and 8,944 beds.

By 2025, that had dropped to 161 facilities and 8,823 beds — 20 fewer facilities and 121 fewer beds.

NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson said the province isn’t adequately planning for the future.

“We all know we’re getting old. We all know how many long-term care beds we’re going to need in two years, five years, ten years. Yet the province has actually reduced the number of long-term care beds,” Jorgenson said.

In a statement to CTV News, the Ministry of Health says its priority is ensuring residents receive safe, appropriate care in the right place, at the right time.

The ministry says provincial spending on home care has increased by about 20 per cent over the past decade.

It points to $150 million in this year’s budget for long-term care infrastructure projects, including new facilities in Regina, La Ronge and Grenfell.