Nearly a third of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes are behind on annual inspections, and one in nine has not received an annual inspection in two years or more, that’s according to a report released from the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging in 2023.
The WTKR News 3 Investigative Team continues to follow through on this problem and talk to people in our area about the issues.
Debbie Scanlon said she was horrified by the state of her sister’s nursing home. She said there were cockroaches, gnats and dirty conditions.
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Her sister was at the location for three weeks and did not receive a shower the entire time.
“They told me my sister took a bad fall and she has blood coming from her ear,” said Scanlon. "They think she only needs one or two stitches. Her ear was severed in half. It took 75 stitches to close."
The WTKR News 3 Investigative Team continues to sort through hundreds of pages of inspection reports.
The Joint Commission on Health Care did a study in 2021 that found that one‐fifth of Virginia’s nursing homes are not meeting expected staffing levels, disproportionately impacting low‐income residents and the care they receive.
Joani Latimer is the Virginia State Long Term Care Ombudsman, a group that works as a state advocate for residents in long-term care facilities.
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“The State of Virginia is not doing well with regard to the findings of that report,” she said.
Latimer said they have between 1,500 and 2,000 investigations per year and get thousands of calls and messages from people looking for help or to voice a concern.
She said one of the biggest issues is staffing problems.
“We see just a tremendous amount of inadequately staffed facilities frankly, and a lot of them are doing the best they can to recruit, but it is a serious concern for advocates,” said Latimer.
Marilee Peterson said she saw firsthand how staffing shortages impacted her mother’s nursing home.
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“If she needed to go to the bathroom, she could ring the bell, and it could take 2 hours for somebody to come and help her go to the bathroom,” said Peterson. "That's just how unresponsive the staff was."
A report released by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging – called "Uninspected and Neglected"—found that not only are facilities short-staffed but so are the agencies that inspect the nursing homes. Putting residents at risk.
In the report released in 2023, Virginia was cited has being overdue in about 45% of complaints that needed to be investigated, and leaders expressed struggles with staffing enough people to complete inspections.
Watch related story: How a national nursing shortage affects the need for caregivers in Norfolk
Right now there are about 300 nursing homes in Virginia.
“Most of them are operating in a quality environment. There are some that are not, and we need to do something about that,” said Melissa Andrews, the President and C.E.O. of Leading Age Virginia. “I think we need to identify where there are challenged organizations, and they need to be helped and assisted and supported. And we can learn from those organizations that are doing it really, really well, and try to replicate those best practices.”
The WTKR News 3 Investigative Team is committed to following through on this issue. It’s complex and impacting many families in Virginia. We are looking through the records and waiting for responses from some of the places where problems have been identified.
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