Maples Personal Care Home COVID-19 Outbreak External Review Final Report

August 11th, 2021

A COVID-19 outbreak was declared at the Maples Long Term Care Home in Winnipeg on Oct. 20 and was declared over on Jan. 12. In that time, 74 staff and 157 residents tested positive for COVID-19, and there were 56 deaths linked to the outbreak.

In November 2020, the Manitoba government engaged an expert advisor to review an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Maples Long Term Care Home and provide feedback and recommendations. The main areas of focus included determining staffing levels, the level of care provided and the infection prevention and control policies and procedures in place at the site.

The review found that while pandemic plans had been prepared and were in place, the site was not prepared for the significant reduction in available staff once they had been exposed to COVID-19 and were required to self-isolate. In addition, the urgency of requests for additional on-site staffing supports were not fully understood until the situation became critical. While additional staff were brought in, many were not skilled in providing long-term care services and lacked training in infection prevention and control and specialized housekeeping skills.

Other issues and considerations included:

facility communications with families was inconsistent, which eroded trust;
clinical care guidance for ill patients was not readily available;
there was a lack of adequate infection prevention and control expertise at the site to help control the outbreak; and
there were multiple planning tables for pandemic preparedness, which led to confusion and created redundancies in communications and workflow.

The report makes 11 recommendations at the facility and regional levels, as well as recommendations for Health Incident Command and Manitoba Health and Seniors Care. There are also six recommendations noted as additional considerations.

Work has already begun to implement the review’s recommendations at the site and regional levels. This work is key to ensuring a range of supports are available for seniors, when and where they are needed.

On March 5, 2021, an plan to implement the review’s recommendation at the provincial level was released. This plan sets out how the recommendations will be implemented at all personal care home sites in Manitoba and ensure they are consistent with the province’s clinical and preventive services plan. The implementation plan sets out the initial direction on how the recommendations of the Maples Report will be put into place. The critical work of implementing these changes will occur in the weeks and months ahead. Leads have been assigned and teams will be developed to focus on specific areas of work for each recommendation.

For More Information:

Serving Residential & Community Care Homes for Everyone in Manitoba

Maples Personal Care Home COVID-19 Outbreak External Review Final Report