Changes aim to keep seniors independent for longer
Seniors still capable of some independence will face less pressure to move into residential-care facilities with provincial government changes announced Monday.
Health Minister Terry Lake announced amendments to the 2004 Community Care and Assisted Living Act to make it easier for seniors to live longer with a degree of independence.
“We want to make sure people have some independence by being supported at the right place at the right time,” said Lake at a news conference at the legislature.
The amendments will relax some of the rules that now dictate when a person moves from assisted living to residential care. The amendments will also increase scrutiny of assisted-living arrangements.
Assisted living allows a person to live independently, usually in an apartment-style residence, with some daily help – for example, with preparing meals or housework. Residential care refers to 24-hour, professional, nursing-style care and supervision in a health facility.
Until now, someone was deemed ready for a move to a residential-care facility if he or she required two or more of six services, including:
* assistance with daily activities like eating, mobility, dressing or bathing
* medication management
* therapeutic diet
* financial management
* rehabilitation therapy
* behavioural management
The amendments will remove the limit on services required to remain in assisted living and replace it with a more flexible assessment process.
At Monday’s news conference, B.C. seniors’ advocate Isobel Mackenzie said as many as 15 per cent of seniors now living in residential care could cope well in the community with assisted-living.
Changes aim to keep seniors independent for longer. Seniors still capable of some independence will face less pressure to move into residential-care facilities with provincial government changes announced Monday.
Health Minister Terry Lake announced amendments to the 2004 Community Care and Assisted Living Act to make it easier for seniors to live longer with a degree of independence.
“We want to make sure people have some independence by being supported at the right place at the right time,” said Lake at a news conference at the legislature.
The amendments will relax some of the rules that now dictate when a person moves from assisted living to residential care. The amendments will also increase scrutiny of assisted-living arrangements.
Assisted living allows a person to live independently, usually in an apartment-style residence, with some daily help – for example, with preparing meals or housework. Residential care refers to 24-hour, professional, nursing-style care and supervision in a health facility.
Until now, someone was deemed ready for a move to a residential-care facility if he or she required two or more of six services, including:
* assistance with daily activities like eating, mobility, dressing or bathing
* medication management
* therapeutic diet
* financial management
* rehabilitation therapy
* behavioural management
The amendments will remove the limit on services required to remain in assisted living and replace it with a more flexible assessment process.
At Monday’s news conference, B.C. seniors’ advocate Isobel Mackenzie said as many as 15 per cent of seniors now living in residential care could cope well in the community with assisted-living.
In a report on seniors’ housing last year, Mackenzie had called for more flexibility in determining whether someone should be placed in residential care.
For example, she said a wheelchair has become almost an arbitrary trigger for moving a person out of assisted living into residential care. “And we all know you can absolutely live independently in a wheelchair,” she told reporters.
There were 27,421 publicly funded residential care beds in B.C., as of September 2015.
As of last year, there were 4,430 units of publicly funded registered assisted living units in B.C., along with 3,247 units of private registered assisted living.
More than 9,000 seniors are admitted to residential care beds each year.
According to the B.C. Health Ministry, the province spends $2.8 billion a year on home and community care, which includes the residential-care and assisted-living subsidies.
Mackenzie, who was appointed in 2014, said she started her role by talking to senior citizens across B.C., including those in residential care. She said she would find herself wondering afterward about some of the people she had met.
“I would scratch my head and ask myself: ‘What on earth is this person doing in residential care?’ ” she said. “Why are they not living in the community with some home support?”
Richard Watts / Times Colonist –
