British Columbia ombudperson Kim Carter has provided 10 recommendations to improve care for seniors in part one of her report on the sector, not all of which the government has accepted.
“The Ministry of Health Services and the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport have not adequately identified the province’s commitment to care and the rights of seniors in residential care facilities,” Carter's report, originally scheduled for release in the spring, found.
Carter recommended putting a commitment to care and the rights of seniors in law and requiring facilities to post those rights where they are easily visible to residents and seniors. The government has already acted on that recommendation, she said.
She also recommended creating a province-wide website to share key information about care facilities and providing more support for resident and family councils, recommendations the government has so far declined to act on.
“I am satisfied that some of our recommendations, such as the residents’ bill of rights, have been accepted and are already being implemented,” Carter wrote in her introduction to the report. “I remain concerned this is not the case with other recommendations, even when the ministries have indicated they accept the purpose and intent of the recommendations.”
She said, “I hope that the significant public interest in this area will encourage full and timely implementation of all our recommendations.”
The second report on seniors' care will take a broader look at the sector, she wrote.
Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.
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Curt
2 years ago
keep an eye on the doctor ...
This is long over due. Problems still exist in alot of the homes, especially private, with under staffing. Sitting in wet diapers too long. Also, doctors working at/for the private facilities especially, also need to be investigated. They're on the "Public" purse as well as the "private" in alot of cases. This is contradictory and works against those in care. From personal experience, anyone who has a loved one in a facility must ask many questions and demand answers. Look at the records and question everything. We lost our loved one and I still lay blame on the doctor(s) involved in her care. THEY DID NOT LISTEN TO THE FAMILY. Drugs are the way to keep control. Make sure you question all meds and demand to know why they are being prescribed. Say NO and put it in writing and keep following up.
circle A
2 years ago
gives me the creeps
every time i drive by that facility on hwy. 10/99,Im glad my parents were never taken away from there community, neighbours friends and home and warehoused out in some farmers field smelling manure24/7. I`d bet anything these for profit facilities are the bleak future for many seniors,I`m also sure theres plenty of liberal friendly business types waiting to get a piece of the action.
Rudy Haugeneder
2 years ago
Seniors care reform
Adult children must also share responsibility for their parents' direct care -- in their homes, not the elderly prisons.
Certainly, seniors are responsible for their own plight because it was they who taught their children to surrender the traditional extended family and go for the social and economic gold of big incomes, big houses, big cars, big holidays, etc.
But we (adult children) must reacquaint ourselves with the meaning of family and bring our seniors home.
Politicians and political parties -- NDP, Liberals, Greens, Conservatives -- who think better warehouses for the elderly are the answer, are insensitive fools who have forgotten the real meaning of family.