Earlier this year, BCCPA introduced new health and safety guidelines to support care providers who were feeling pressure from health authorities to accept complex care residents that they did not have the full staffing to care for properly. Since this safety tool was introduced, more than 70% of our members have decided to use the tool in their facility - with success. We have received many reports of smoother admission discussions with local health authorities.
Last week, the Canadian Health Care Association recognized the leadership of BCCPA in a new national report on long-term care. The report recognizes the BCCPA health and safety guidelines as a "leading practice" in Canada and recommends they be widely disseminated across Canada.
In addition to recognizing BC leadership, the 150+ page report makes a series of specific recommendations about the crisis is Canadian senior's care, including:
- federal government must show leadership and establish a facility-based long term care fund to address growing challenges of aging society,
- establish mandatory accreditation in facility based long-term care
- develop pan-Canadian minimum staffing levels for long-term care facilities and a strategy to attract people to work in facility-based long-term care
- allow funding to follow residents so that provinces with massive in-migration do not experience excessive costs
These are recommendations BCCPA support, and in some cases we are ahead of the game - particularly as it relates to accreditation, establishing a registry of care aides and recruiting people into nurse and care aide training.
