New Ministry of Health Report
The Ministry of Health has invited the BC Care Providers Association (BCCPA) and other leading seniors care stakeholders to provide feedback on a new report regarding the use of anti-psychotic drugs in residential seniors care facilities. BCCPA CEO Ed Helfrich welcomed the report and noted that many BCCPA members have introduced site-specific policies to help reduce the use of these drugs whenever possible. "Seniors care providers are working hard to ensure compliance with all regulations and securing appropriate consent as needed," said Helfrich. "We will be reviewing the report with front-line care providers and preparing a formal response early in the New Year that responds to the report's recommendations and suggests additional measures to protect the health of seniors, care staff and residents. Send us your feedback at info@bccare.ca.
The recommendations in the report are focused on:
- education of physicians, facility staff and the public
- more inspections and monitoring of practices by Ministry of Health, health authorities and College of Pharmacists
- review of section 72(2) of Residential Care regulations (restraints)
- improve public understanding of dementia and dementia care
During the course of the preparing the report, the review committee said they learned a number of notable things, including:
- older buildings may present unique challenges as they may not typically have single rooms, small pod-like groupings, access to safe outdoor areas, dedicated space for safe wandering and other physical features of newer, purpose built facilities
- access to outdoor spaces, single occupancy rooms and innovative scheduling practices are positive strategies that should be more broadly applied
- current staffing ratios in care facilities were thought to be insufficient by most stakeholders
"While the report is comprehensive, it is described as a first step," added Helfrich. "In addition to excluding many residential care facilities that operate under the Hospital Act, the report does not capture the rate-of-use of anti-psychotic drugs on seniors waiting in acute care hospitals for placement to community care. Future efforts to reduce the use of anti-psychotic drugs in these other care settings should be included in the next phase of our discussions with the Ministry as some residential care providers have expressed concern about the dependence of seniors' on anti-psychotic drugs when they arrive from an extended stay in the hospital."
Last week, BCCPA released their updated 2011 Action Plan that included a list of recommendations to improve the quality, efficiency and transparency of BC's seniors; care system. A number of the ideas being proposed have the potential to help reduce the use of anti-psychotic drugs in residential care, including efforts to:
- reduce time seniors wait in hospital
- expand use of nurse practitioners in residential care
- enhance role of Family Councils
- return all new client user fees to increase staffing levels
- standardized family satisfaction surveys
