Are B.C. seniors over-drugged and under-cared-for in provincially funded residential care homes?
The sad answer is yes, according to analysis coming out of the office the B.C. Seniors Advocate.
When the office's researchers put information into a useful directory of residential care facilities, it revealed that most don't meet provincial guidelines for hours of care and that many seniors are given powerful anti-depression and -psychosis drugs when they haven't been diagnosed with those issues.
So far all Health Minister Terry Lake has to say in defence is that he'll look into it — pretty much the same answer he gave this time last year when seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie released a similar report ("Placement, Drugs and Therapy, We Can Do Better").
It is shameful that it has to be a seniors advocate pointing out alarming facts about how our seniors are cared for instead of the provincial government or the official opposition.
Sadder still is that these facts are well known in the health care sector, as Lake himself pointed out in a news report last year.
Fortunately, there may be some good news on the horizon.
In the Tri-Cities, two new care facilities are opening that will provide the recommended number of care hours, according to Fraser Health, and a project is underway to do a better job in tracking prescriptions, engaging families in decision-making on the use of pharmaceuticals and educating caregivers about drugs and alternatives.
But these initiatives may be too little too late, given that the health care industry has known about these issues for years.
Next time you're faced with putting mom or dad or grandma or grandpa in a home, make sure you ask some tough questions and follow up with your caregivers.
We can't always leave the job up to the province.
