The family of an 87-year-old woman is speaking out about the care the senior receives at a local nursing home, saying their mother is often overlooked – and sometimes even sits in her own feces while she waits for help.

Hilda Casey has lived at Rosemary Heights Seniors Village in South Surrey for the last eight months. She has kidney and heart problems, and needs help with most tasks – help her daughter Monica Burrell says she’s not receiving.

“The dignity, where is it?” asked Burrell, noting her mother is sometimes left to sit in her feces while she waits for help. “Where has it gone?”

Burrell lives in Australia, and rushed to Metro Vancouver when her mother’s health took a turn for the worse.

“She’d given up, she was depressed,” said Burrell, of her mother. “She was feeling trapped.”

“I've waited well over an hour sometimes, for people to come back and give me service, sometimes it's an hour and a half,” said Casey, noting two people are required to move her. “It’s like as if you’ve been forgotten.”

According to B.C.’s Senior’s Advocate, Rosemary Heights Seniors Village provides 2.8 direct care hours a day. The Ministry of Health’s own staffing guidelines recommends 3.36 hours of direct care per senior per day.

“When we catalogue the number of direct care hours – 82 per cent of facilities don't meet that guideline, and that's concerning,” said Isobel MacKenzie, Office of the Seniors Advocate B.C., when a report on seniors care was released earlier this year. “I think we were all surprised by that."

Burrell says the people who care for her mother are friendly, but it’s just not enough.

“The staff is quite friendly as well, I’ve got to admit,” she said, adding that the nursing home is understaffed. “They try to do things for you, but it’s just not enough.”

The Fraser Health Authority, which funds the home, says it’s been made aware of the concerns and they are looking into the case.

“We’ve connected with the care facility and will meet with the family as we review the resident’s care needs and the care plan,” the Authority said in an email to CTV News.

“When it comes to care matters, we deal with them urgently and in collaboration with our contracted service partners to ensure residents receive the most appropriate care for their needs.”

A review of Casey’s care plan is expected next week.

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Nafeesa Karim