Latest news with #personalcarehomes
CBC
a day ago
- Health
- CBC
Four N.L. care homes reach national standard for the first time in provincial first
Four personal care homes are now the first in Newfoundland and Labrador to receive national accreditation for their quality of care. Fort Amherst Healthcare announced that all of the company's four facilities have been recognized by Accreditation Canada after a 2-year process of rigorous assessment to bring their operations to a national standard of care. "What the accreditation process does is it holds up a magnifying glass to every piece of your operating procedure," Forth Amherst Healthcare President Mike Powell said at a press conference in St. John's. Fort Amherst Healthcare's Accreditation Manager Cecilia Penney says it also requires facilities to create better systems to document their work, residents' experiences and manage incident reports. More transparency was one of the many recommendations called for in the Auditor General's scathing report on the state of personal care homes in the province. The report found instances of verbal and sexual abuse allegations, residents going missing and death. Some of these incidents are currently under police investigation. The auditor general also expressed concerns that operational standards haven't been updated since 2007. "We're talking about voluntarily adhering to a higher set of standards than what already exists from a provincial regulation perspective, " Powell said. One of these elevated standards is with incident disclosure. When an incident occurs in a personal care home, staff have a protocol to make family or loved ones aware. "I would say that an accreditation approach goes a little bit deeper and it says, how are you engaging with the people that you're disclosing things to?" Powell said. Penney says the process has also brought benefits to staff satisfaction, leading to the creation of a wellness program to reduce burnout.
CBC
21-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Seniors need better protection from personal care home rate increases, advocate says
Newfoundland and Labrador's seniors' advocate says steps need to be taken to protect seniors from skyrocketing personal care home rates. Susan Walsh highlighted the issue as one of eleven recommendations in a report issued Thursday, pitching the provincial government that seniors face uncertainty in care given how rates have increased. "We saw there a couple of years ago that the rates jumped by over 20 per cent, and there was a public outcry because people couldn't afford [it.] That can't happen, and should not happen," Walsh told reporters last week. "We know we have many seniors in this province who went into personal care homes understanding what their rate would be and then all of the sudden the rates go up. And they are like, 'What do I do now? Where do I go? I can't afford to pay.'" WATCH | Susan Walsh says seniors can't afford their personal care home rates: Seniors' advocate calls for protections against skyrocketing personal care home rates 37 minutes ago Duration 2:00 Walsh's report, which called for a new governance structure surrounding the care of seniors in Newfoundland and Labrador, recommended rental rates for personal care homes not increase more than once a year, and that increases shouldn't exceed the rate of inflation. Residents should also receive no less than four months written notice prior to an increase, she added. "There should be a structured plan whereby the rate is increased to what the system can, you know, accept," Walsh said. Speaking at a housing event on Friday, Seniors Minister John Abbott said the recommendation was discussed as part of a meeting with Walsh following the report's release. He agreed that rising rates are a problem — especially because seniors often have to carefully budget for where they can live. "That's one of the issues, and issues like that, that I want to bring to the cabinet committee on seniors," Abbott said. "What are some best practices? What can we do? And what should we do? So, this is a very live issue and we just got to get working on it." Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell also spoke to the report last week, saying Walsh's recommendation to develop continuum of care legislation and operational standards for personal care homes is underway within government. However, changes aren't expected to be revealed this spring. Walsh's report also called on the province to move senior care from the responsibility of the Department of Health and Community Services to the Department of Seniors. Abbott said the department's mandate is still being finalized, but said he and Howell would be working closely together.
