The province's long-term care facilities are failing to meet the basic needs of residents, auditor general Fred Dunn says.

Dunn's report into how seniors are cared for in Alberta found that almost one-third of care homes he investigated only partially meet the basic standards of care, and that some don't meet them at all.

"At the end of the day, it's not a flattering report," Dunn said. "The standards are out of date. Monitoring of compliance is inadequate. We found facilities are not meeting standards for providing medication to residents."

His report recommends improving basic standards and instituting regular reviews to make sure the standards are being met.

"Standards alone won't guarantee good care, but without them, caregivers are at risk of not providing the appropriate or adequate care," Dunn said. "And without monitoring, residents are at risk of receiving inadequate care."

Dunn found that only seven of the 25 facilities his team visited fully met the province's standards of care. There are 179 care homes in Alberta.

Some centres schedule care based on staffing needs, rather than patient needs, Dunn said, including some residents being bathed and dressed at 3 a.m. and others put to bed at 7 p.m.

"Overall, we are most concerned about facilities failing to meet criteria for providing medication to residents, maintaining medical records, particularly the application and recording of physical and chemical restraints," Dunn's report said.

The auditor said problems with the medical care at some facilities included some seniors not receiving an annual examination and not enough registered nurses.

Carol Wodak, whose 87-year-old mother lives in a care home, called the report "very superficial, very sanitized."

She wanted Dunn's review to look at the effect the level of care provided has on residents.

"I gave him a lot of details. I've got three file boxes recording the problems we've experienced over the last eight years, personally, and that's not even getting close to the ones I've seen," Wodak said. "I wish I could hope this report will improve things.

"But, you know, the government departments have known for years, the ministers have known for years about these problems and they've ignored them."

Premier Ralph Klein says Dunn's report is a wake up call, but insists they haven't neglected the province's elderly.

"I don't think that we're neglecting our seniors," he said. "Overall, I think the system is good, but if it needs to be improved, we'll find ways to improve it."

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents practical care attendants and some licensed practical nurses, says none of the findings in the report are a surprise, but that Dunn left some concerns out.

D'Arcy Lanovaz says there are cases where one staff person is left to care for 25 patients overnight, and calls the situation unacceptable.

"What hasn't been highlighted is working alone. A number of the staff in these long-term care facilities work alone on the night shift and that wasn't highlighted in here and I was a little disappointed not to see something on that issue," Lanovaz said.

Klein said Health Minister Iris Evans and Seniors Minister Yvonne Fritz will follow up on Dunn's findings.

A number of groups have come forward recently to complain about the level of care in the province's nursing homes, including an 86-year-old resident who launched a four-day hunger strike to protest two staff for 17 patients in her Camrose facility.

Alberta Health says right now each patient should receive three hours of care a day, and it wants to boost that to 3.4 hours a day over the next three years.

According to Alberta Health, for the 14,000 residents in care facilities, there are 3,400 professionals and 9,500 aides working. Ratios vary from region to region.