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Difference between revisions of "Six Pressing Issues when Living in Residential Care"
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Six Pressing Issues when Living in Residential Care (view source)
Revision as of 22:07, 2 July 2014
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===Addressing abuse or neglect when it happens=== | |||
Residential care facilities are expected to have written policies in place to address and respond to abuse and neglect of residents. When a resident in a residential care facility is involved in a reportable incident, the operator must immediately notify | |||
* that person’s representative or contact person, | |||
* the medical practitioner or nurse practitioner responsible for the person’s care, | |||
* the regional medical health officer and | |||
* The program that provides funding for the resident, if applicable. | |||
The operator must also complete an Incident Report Form and send it to the health authority’s community care licensing office immediately. | |||
The response to the abuse or neglect situation will depend on the type of harm and who was involved. The operator has a responsibility to investigate the allegation or the known situation. Staff if involved may be suspended, with or without pay during the investigation and in some cases may be fired, although if unionized, they may grieve the response. If a matter is a crime, facility operators are expected to call the police. | |||
Abuse or neglect situations involving care aides that the care facility operators find are supported by the evidence, are expected to be reported to the BC Care Aide & Community Health Worker Registry to be further investigated (Note : Operators cannot be compelled to report to the Registry). (For more information on the process see Chapter Three “Rights, Remedies and Problem Resolution”). If the incident is considered well founded, the care aide worker may be de-registered, which prevents him or her from working in publicly funded care facilities in the province. Care aides cannot be de-registered for general competence issues. | |||
===Video-surveillance and abuse or neglect=== | |||
Family members sometimes suspect that abuse or neglect of a resident may be happening in the facility. The resident may show possible indicators such as | |||
* repeated falls, | |||
* unexplained or poorly explained bruises, | |||
* a change in behaviour (such as withdrawing in the presence of certain staff). | |||
However, there can other causes. | |||
In some cases, family members have tried to determine whether resident abuse or neglect is occurring by placing a hidden video camera in the resident’s room. This is rarely a first response; it typically occurs when the possible indicators are present and | |||
* the resident has cognitive impairment or communication difficulties making it difficult to determine the facts, | |||
* family feel their questions or concerns about specific situations have not been adequately addressed, or | |||
* situations have not been adequately investigated internally by the operator or externally by oversight bodies. | |||
{{REVIEWED | reviewer = BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, June 2014}} | {{REVIEWED | reviewer = BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, June 2014}} | ||
{{Legal Issues in Residential Care: An Advocate's Manual Navbox}} | {{Legal Issues in Residential Care: An Advocate's Manual Navbox}} | ||
