Byline: Quintin Winks, Alberni Valley Times
Alberni Valley's elderly could be turned away from care facilities thanks to new safety guidelines and funding shortfalls.
The new health and safety guidelines were adopted by the British Columbia Care Providers Association early this month. They're designed to protect association members against overwork, thereby improving standards of patient care. In short, the guidelines provide a way of measuring staffing levels against patient requirements.
The seed for the new guidelines was sewn back in 2002, when regulations were introduced that changed the way patients were assessed. The new assessments meant elderly patients were kept at home for as long as possible. Residential care was reserved for those in most desperate need of round-the-clock nursing and care. But the regulations also meant that patients in residential care were older and sometimes less capable, often requiring significantly more care.
In the meantime the government hardly raised funding levels since 2002. Eventually a log jam formed where care staff had to work harder and harder to keep up with the influx of high-needs patients. No new money meant no new staff, so existing staff were expected to pick up the slack, said David Hurford, director of public affairs for the BCCPA. According to Hurford, one facility in the Lower Mainland with five wheelchair patients in 2002 has 45 wheelchairs in its facility this year.
The result of the log jam is that the BCCPA is putting its foot down.
"What they've introduced is a mechanism for our independent contractors to measure and evaluate the staffing levels that they have in comparison to the care requirements at the residence," said Barbara Stevenson, executive director of Fir Park Village/Echo Village, a Port Alberni based seniors care facility. "It is a good news story."
The new regulations are an especially good news story for Stevenson who can now use them to ensure her facility is adequately staffed. When the health authority sends new patients to Fir Park Village/Echo Village, Stevenson can compare the new patient's health profile with the BCCPA guidelines and tell exactly how many health care workers will be required to provide acceptable care, Hurford said.
If Stevenson doesn't have enough have enough staff to look after a patient, she can go back to the health authority and say she is unable to provide adequate care. The health authority must then either provide the resources for safe care or keep the patient in an acute care bed waiting for a referral. That's the most likely scenario, Hurford said.
But it could be worse.
"Nelson's a town that has one facility and if you're not getting care there you're being shipped to Castlegar or somewhere else," Hurford said.
