Provincial inspection alleges 2 cases of sexual abuse at Hamilton long-term care home

Hamilton long-term care home Shalom Village says it will conduct a "full review" after a provincial inspection alleges a personal support worker sexually abused two residents there.

In a written report, Ministry of Long-Term Care inspectors allege the abuse went undocumented, the home didn't do police checks on new employees and didn't follow proper protocol during a COVID-19 outbreak, among other things.

The home, located on Macklin Street North in the city's Westdale neighbourhood, said in a statement it was "deeply troubled by some of the inspection findings."

"The Board of Directors of Shalom Village is undertaking a full review to investigate every single finding in the Ministry's report and to explore and identify any other areas for improvement for every Shalom Village resident, participant, family member and staff person," read the statement dated April 6.

When asked for an interview, Shalom Village emailed the statement, which is addressed to "residents, family and community members."

"I want to assure you that Shalom Village fully co-operated with the Ministry inspection, and we have already taken action to address findings in the report," it says.

The inspection at the home with 127 licensed beds was conducted throughout the month of January and published online on Feb. 28. It resulted in 22 written notices, including the failure to protect residents from abuse, 16 voluntary plans of correction and five compliance orders.

The orders were each given dates to comply by, ranging from May 2, 2022, to Aug. 1, 2022. 

The province says a registered practical nurse (RPN) watched a personal support worker (PSW) "inappropriately apply an intervention" to a resident.

The home says the "intervention" was a skin cream.

"The incident was not reported to management until four days after it had occurred, and there was no documentation of the incident or assessments conducted," read the inspection.

"As a result, [the PSW] was able to return to work and another abuse incident occurred."

The second time, a resident told an RPN the same PSW was "inappropriate with them," according to the report.

"There was no evidence that the resident was assessed after the incident and there were no written statements or interview notes kept from [the PSW]," the investigation found.