By Jennifer Moreau, Burnaby Now
Local seniors could be turned away from residential care facilities now that an advocacy group for care providers is imposing tougher admitting guidelines while trying to secure more government funding.
The B.C. Care Providers Association represents about 130 private and non-profit care facilities and mostly advocates on their behalf with the government. It has four member facilities in Burnaby. The association introduced new voluntary guidelines April 7 that allow members to start assessing new patients transferred from health authorities. The authorities pay a daily rate for seniors to stay in residential care facilities.
Referrals with complex care needs that don't come with enough attached funding might be turned away. Underfunding leads to understaffing, and association spokesperson David Hurford said that affects patient safety. "If we can't guarantee safe care, we're not going to accept the patient. That's just the way it's going to be," said Hurford.
Health Services Minister George Abbott told the NOW that if the association's members are not willing to provide services that clients deserve, the ministry will work with other facilities.
Hurford said the government needs to pay residential care facilities $80 million more to address staff shortages across the province.
"If care facilities refuse to accept residents as a result of using this tool (the new guidelines), the health authorities may redirect funding for that bed to ensure their clients receive the care they need - and in a timely fashion," Abbott wrote in an e-mail to the NOW. He also said the tool that the B.C. Care Providers is using is outdated, has not been validated by any independent studies and is not based on the care needs of residents and home-care settings.
"The criteria used by the tool, such as care levels, were discontinued by the ministry several years ago because they are subjective and vary tremendously depending on who is doing the rating. The only reason to use this tool would be to ask for more funding, based on a subjective interpretation of the data," he said, adding the ministry has spent record levels of funding on health care since 2001.
