A new report shows Nelson’s two residential care facilities are meeting provincial standards for care, but are also subject to the same problems facing other long-term care homes throughout B.C.
The Office of the Seniors Advocate released its annual survey of publicly funded facilities in B.C. on Thursday. It found Mountain Lake Seniors Community meets the standard for daily direct care hours per resident at 3.36, while Nelson Jubilee Manor is at 3.25 hours.
Jubilee opened in 1979 and is operated by the Interior Health Authority, which is also responsible for oversight of the privately operated Mountain Lake.
“Overall, we have seen very positive progress in relation to care hours and a positive shift in substantiated complaints,” said seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie in a statement.
Although hours of care are increasing, several issues remain.
In B.C., 24.3 per cent of residents are taking anti-psychotic drugs without a diagnosis of psychosis. Jubilee and Mountain Lake is in line with that provincial average at 22.2 and 25.3 per cent, respectively.
“Progress on the appropriate use of anti-psychotics has stalled in the past three years and B.C. remains above the national average,” said Mackenzie.
The doling out of anti-depressants to patients who haven’t been diagnosed with depression also continues.
At Jubilee, 49.7 per cent of residents receive depression medication despite only 29.4 per cent having been diagnosed. Mountain Lake’s numbers are similar, with 40.7 per cent receiving treatment despite just 26.2 suffering from depression.
Those stats mirror the provincial averages, which show a 23.4 per cent depression rate and 48.5 per cent of all residents receiving medication.
The report also shows for the first time the number of infractions for each site. It found four incidents of abuse and/or neglect and five falls that led to injury at Mountain Lake, while Jubilee had two abuse incidents, one fall and one disease outbreak.
The Nelson facilities differ in how social residents are: 31.7 per cent of Mountain Lake residents are reported to have low social engagement compared to 61 per cent of Jubilee residents. The B.C. average is 47.8.
The average age of residents at Jubilee is 85, while 71 per cent of residents are women. Mountain Lake, which opened in 2005, has an average age of 84, and women make up 65 per cent of its population.
Jubilee has 39 publicly funded beds, while Mountain Lake is home to 92, of which 85 are publicly funded.
Related:
• Living and dying with grace in residential care
• Report: Nelson’s residential care facilities under-performing
tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com
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