With more than 29,000 people living in 294 publicly subsidized care homes in BC and more than 400 people living in the six care homes in Prince George, the B.C. Seniors Advocate is asking for local volunteers to survey the residents to get their opinion about where they live.
In 2016/17, the seniors advocate reached out to 27,000 B.C. seniors and their families to get first-hand feedback on the quality of their care and accommodations. Now, five years later, the seniors advocate is honouring the commitment to continue to help improve care home conditions by repeating the process once again for 2022/23. That way results from then and now can be compared, including what was learned from the pandemic to provide continued insight into ways to improve care and accommodations in long-term care facilities.
The long-term care quality of life survey examines topics like food, safety, comfort, respect and responsiveness of staff, personal relationships, medications and activities. Residents will be interviewed in person and their family members will be invited to participate by phone, online or via a written survey. The survey will be conducted at care homes across the province between now and February 2023. A final report is planned for spring 2023.
The resident survey is conducted in person by volunteers in every region in the province and seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie is asking for volunteers to engage with residents in Prince George.
“We know British Columbians care deeply about seniors, and through participating in this survey, you can help shape the future for people in residential care homes across the province,” Mackenzie said in a recent press release.
As a result of the 2017 final report called Every Voice Counts: Provincial Residential Care Survey Results, the seniors advocate made several recommendations for improvement to the system that includes the following:
· increasing care hours and ensuring staffing levels are enforced and monitored by heath authorities;
· increasing flexibility of how and when care and services are delivered;
· examining opportunities to improve the meal time experience;
· advising health authorities to administer a similar quality of care survey to care home residents and family members in 2019/20 and publish the results;
· increasing training focused on the emotional needs of residents;
· foster greater engagement with family members particularly in regard to family councils and visitor handwashing;
· better physician care and increasing the role of nurse practitioners to improve care;
· increasing the range of activities, particularly in the evenings and weekends; and
· undertaking the survey again in five years.
To volunteer to help with the survey process, visit www.surveybcseniors.org/volunteer and to read the 2017 report visit www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/osa-reports/residential-care-survey
The Office of the Seniors Advocate (OSA) is an independent office of the provincial government with a mandate of monitoring seniors’ services and reporting on systemic issues affecting seniors. The office also provides information and referral to seniors and their caregivers by calling toll free 1 877 952-3181, BC211, via email at [email protected], and on the OSA web site.
